Balance of power
by Captain Tazer
Summary: Set in year 1927. The sinister Mola Ram is in a struggle to rebuild the evil Thuggee cult in the catacombs underneath Pankot Palace, when the vile Goa'uld system lord Kali the Destroyer, Mola Ram's evil god, unexpectedly drops in. Crossover Temple of Doom/Stargate. All bad-guy story - no heroes until last chapter. Rated 'M' for explicit torture, gore, and horrible ritual deaths.
1. Running

Author's notes: Note that this is the year 1927: one year before the stargate was uncovered at the dig in Giza, and eight years before Indiana Jones came to Pankot palace. That is why no heroes will show up in this story, and why all the Goa'ulds are still alive.

Please also note that all Goa'uld speeches and designations of materials has all been copied from the subtitles in the DVDs of Stargate SG:1. All speeches in Hindu and its translations which you will find in later chapters is all taken from the trivia section of the site IMDB and from the novel of _Temple of Doom_ written by James Khan. Any possible inconsistences that you may find is therefore of no fault of mine. I own neither the Stargate franchise or Indiana Jones. No money is being made on this story.

* * *

 _Their problems are none of my concern!_  
That was how Kali the Destroyer felt about the whole matter, but it was clear that her pursuers did not share that sentiment. Her Ha'tak vessel, racing through space attempting to rendezvous with the rest of her fleet was taking heavy fire from three motherships like hers, fully intent to stop her from going through with her plans – her quest for the certain power she coveted… her long dream.  
Why does the other System lords have a problem with it anyway? Like all the Goa'ulds, she strived for power and dominance of the galaxy – no one was to expect any less of their kind. But it certainly appeared that her planned method for gaining the power she desired was sending a shiver of fear through the other Goa'ulds, not that they would admit such a thing, of course.

There was a frantic activity going on at the bridge. Her mother ship took another hit from one of the Ha'tak vessels chasing her, causing a sparkle of energy to erupt in a cascade from one of the control-modules of the Peltac. Her first prime Kru'ul that was stationed at the helm immediately killed all power feeding through the damaged conduit to stop the energy leak and barked through the communicator to the Jaffa personnel that currently staffed the engine room: "Reroute the control-crystals to the Peltac through the reserve conduits! We can't afford to lose navigation!"  
Kali was growing quite impatient. "Why aren't we going into hyperspace?" she demanded with her distorted voice.  
Kru'ul reluctantly looked over his shoulder, wary of facing the wrath of his god. It was never a good thing to be the deliverer of bad news, especially to one who was as bloodthirsty as Kali was. "We cannot risk doing so while we're busy doing evasive maneuvers dodging the weapons from our pursuers, my lord. If we open a hyperspace window and misses the entry, the strain of a failed entry might cause a feedback to our control crystals and burn them out, and then we would be stuck. We are already running on our reserves. We have no more to spare."  
Kali growled in response, her eyes literally flashing in anger. Kru'ul turned back to his task, not daring to show how he cringed under his god's bestial glare. And bestial they were.

Unlike many of the other system lords, Kali the Destroyer had not changed hosts after the discovery of the Tauri. She was one of the few Goa'ulds who still resided within the first kind of vessel of their origin. Hers was still of the Unas – a lizard-like being of raw power and primordial senses. One of the main reasons as to why she stuck with her Unas-host was because it was more advanced than any other. A long time ago, before the Goa'uld began to upgrade their hosts to the vessels of the Tauri, Kali had undergone a genetic experiment conducted by the Goa'uld scientist Nirrti in an attempt to create a Hok'una, (advanced Unas) which was to better their hosts and make them more powerful. The treatment had given Kali some interesting extra appendages which made her self-appointed god-status appear more legitimate. Her head was slightly larger than the average Unas – she claimed that her brain had evolved and thus making her more intelligent. But unlike any other Unas form, Kali had not two, but six arms. Over the thousands of years past she had grown quite accustomed to this genetic 'defect', and it certainly gave an advantage that she could carry three times as many naqahdah-powered hand-ribbons than any other Goa'uld. Kali's coalition with Nirrti had long since been disbanded after the other went on to creating Hok'tars (advanced humans) instead, but now Kali sought coalition of another kind – that was why the other system lords had put a price on her head.

"What about weapons and shield status?" Kali demanded from her throne.  
Kru'ul turned to his side where a lower Jaffa was stationed at another consol. "Trao'l! _Kree!_ " he barked.  
Trao'l's report was not any more encouraging than Kru'ul's had been. "Shields are losing power," he said apologetically. "We're taking fire three to one and we're unable to direct our own at everyone at once. We cannot…"  
"Stop your sniveling, Jaffa, or I'll have you _executed!_ " Kali snarled in annoyance. With a wave of one of her hands, she called over her Lo'taur, a young human woman who was her closest servant. The woman immediately came over with a pitcher and a glass, in which she poured up a liquid and handed over to her master. The ghoulish-like goddess emptied the glass in one swig, feeling the contents course though her systems. The liquid wasn't just a pleasure drink, it helped to diminish the bestial anger that was rising within her at her Jaffas' incompetence. Throwing away the empty glass into the corner where it broke into hundreds of pieces, Kali addressed her crew again: "Do whatever you need to do to evade our pursuers! Your god commands it!"  
"Yes, my lord," Kru'ul responded. "Attempting to…" That's when the proximity alert suddenly blared.

"My lord Kali!" the first prime exclaimed. "We got four more enemy vessels emerging from hyperspace right in front of us!" Just as Kru'ul had said, four more Goa'uld mother ships appeared out of seemingly nowhere to block Kali's path. Kru'ul had no choice but to put the Ha'tak vessel into a stop or they would crash into the newcomers. The new arrivals had played a dangerous game, but it had payed off. Kali was surrounded.  
"They've boxed us in," Kru'ul stated unnecessarily.  
Just then the main window turned opaque as a transmission was coming in. The viewer displayed an image of a black-haired man with a square face, short-trimmed beard, and small, yet piercing eyes.  
"Kree shac chel, Kali!" The man's greeting was as false as his smile. "Kel Baal!"  
Kali rose from her throne and approached the viewscreen. "What is the meaning of this?" she demanded in a raging distorted voice. "How dare you attack me?!"  
Baal didn't falter one bit. "You know perfectly well why," he retorted. "Surely you didn't think your plans of joining forces with Sokar wouldn't slip by the attention of the system lords unnoticed and unchallenged? That we would just sit by and allow you to tip the balance of power to his favor?"

Sokar was one of the two Goa'ulds who currently were the most powerful system lords in the galaxy. Sokar commanded a large fleet, ruled over many worlds, and had thousands of legions of loyal Jaffa at his disposal. But it wasn't the size of his army that tempted Kali to incorporate her fleet with his… it was because Sokar shared Kali's lust for pain and suffering.  
Sokar was a ruthless system lord, but then he was the incarnation of the devil. He went by the rule of obedience through tyranny, and he was not above using extreme torture to put his underlings and slaves into submission – and he enjoyed doing so. Inflicting eternal damnation through pain was like a nectar to Sokar – he had even converted the moon circulating his home planet into a hellish prison colony called Netu where the residents suffered unspeakable atrocities every day. The very thought of it made Kali's own blood to rush. She was just as much of a sadist like Sokar, and she would give anything to stand in the middle of hell and listen to all the wailings of torture. Even her own fleet.

That was Kali's whole plan. She had spent a long time to build herself an own army, which she was going to offer to Sokar in exchange for becoming the ruler of Netu. Sokar had once been the supreme system lord of all the Goa'uld until an alliance lead by Ra and Apophis unseated him. If Kali was to join her fleet with his, then Sokar would once again be powerful enough to overthrow the rest of the system lords and place them all under his tyrannical rule. None of the other Goa'ulds wanted to see that day return, so it was a coalition they wanted to stop at all costs. To halt such a union, they needed to take one of the players out of the picture, and it was easier to stop Kali than going against Sokar. That was why Kali the Destroyer currently was the most hunted Goa'uld in the galaxy. And now Baal had caught up with her.  
Kali studied the read-outs over the first prime's shoulder; Baal had all his seven ships covering any possible direction the fugitive craft would've liked to go, and every weapon was charged to full power, prepared to blast her out of space.  
"You are completely at my mercy," Baal stated smugly. "You can either surrender and swear allegiance to me or be destroyed."  
"My fleet will come for me!" Kali growled, clenching all six of her fists.  
"Then they'll come witnessing their goddess being vanquished by my hand, and then I will give them the same choice as I just gave you." Baal's smile became even wider. "Do you honestly think that you can escape?"  
Kali grimaced while contemplating her options. It was obvious that she couldn't go anywhere she preferably had wanted to go, so she had to consider a different route. And there just might be one: one Baal hadn't considered.

Kali returned to her throne, sitting down, looking regal and proud. "I'll need time to inform my crew of this development," she told Baal.  
"You'll have one minute!" Baal said and cut communications. The screen went blank and showed the view of the window again.  
"What is your plan now, my lord?" Kru'ul asked.  
"No doubt he is monitoring our communications," Kali snorted. "We'll play along for a bit. Trao'l. Depower all of our weapons."  
"My lord?" Trao'l questioned.  
"Do it!" she snarled to him, and he complied. Then Kali called her Lo'taur over and instructed her a new command. "You will inform the engine room that all available power except for navigation and the star drive is to be diverted into the shields. They are to be put up to maximum power at my command!"  
The aide nodded and went her way.  
"Kru'ul! Input the following coordinates into the navigational console…" When the first prime had done so, he looked over at Kali with a startled expression. "My lord! That heading will take us right into…"  
"I know exactly where it will take us!" Kali barked. "Do not question me!"  
"Forgive me, my lord. Awaiting your command to execute."

The female aide came back and reported to Kali that the engine room was ready. Just then the viewscreen came on again and once more displayed Baal's face.  
"Time's up. I see that you powered down your weapons," he said with a pleased expression. "I take it that you have agreed to surrender?"  
Kali's eyes flashed. "To you? _Never!_ Raise shields!"  
Baal's smile disappeared. "Fire!" he barked to his side.  
All gun batteries of the surrounding ships released their charges. Had Kali not boosted her shields prior to this, she would've have been instantly obliterated. But it would not be able to withstand the combined power for very long, so Kali immediately had Kru'ul to execute the next phase of her escape. The Ha'tak vessel rotated on its axis, turning to a direction Baal had not considered to cover as it would not take Kali to a destination favorable to her – but since the path was clear, Kali took it anyway. Enduring the heavy bombardment for just the few seconds required, Kali's mother ship managed to escape into hyperspace right under Baal's nose.

* * *

Onboard Baal's flagship, the Jaffa stationed at the Peltac looked over his shoulder to deliver the report that otherwise was quite obvious to all. "My lord, she jumped into hyperspace!"  
One might've expected a tantrum coming from a Goa'uld ruler – but Baal simply leaned back in his own throne and sighed tiredly. This was only but a mere nuisance to him. "So, my dear, you've chosen to do this the hard way," he mumbled in his distorted voice. "Well, go after her!" he then commanded. The Jaffa nodded in acknowledgement and quickly steered the ship into the new bearing Kali had taken. All seven Ha'tak vessels took pursuit in hyperspace. They figured that since Kali's own ship was previously damaged, she would not be able to maintain top speed for so long. Sooner or later she would have to drop out, and then they would have her. But it soon became clear what Kali had in mind when she broke into her run.

"My lord Baal," the Jaffa called back again. "Our sensors indicate that kali is headed straight for Ra's territory!"  
This news made Baal's eyebrow rise slightly in surprise. What did she hope to gain from that, he wondered silently to himself? Loudly he asked: "Can we reach her before that?"  
"No, my Lord!" the Jaffa answered. "According to the readings, she has _already_ crossed the border!" Contrary to her success of escape earlier, this accomplishment of Kali's displeased Baal quite a bit.  
"My lord," the Jaffa continued, looking nervous. "We can't go in after her!"  
Baal didn't like to admit it, but his lower underling was in this case right. He gave the command. "All ships: stop!" Every pursuing Ha'tak vessel came out of hyperspace, slowed down and came to a stop right before the border that marked the space that belonged to the system lord Ra, and there they remained.  
"Based on the direction she took, what is Kali's estimated destination?" Baal asked.  
The Jaffa at the Peltac called up a star map on the viewer and made the calculations. "There," he finally said, pointing to a specific spot. "I believe it is the world of the Tauri! That's a bad choice. There's absolutely nothing there!" the Jaffa chuckled. Baal however, didn't chuckle.

"On the contrary, it's the perfect choice," he said, looking like he sat in deep thought. The Tauri was said to be the world where the Goa'uld found their human hosts, and where they lifted their slaves to seed around the galaxy on the planets they dominated to serve them. But that was a long, long time ago. That world was of no interest today. No naqahdah deposits existed there, no trinium ore… it didn't even have a chaapa-ai. If there was one, it was buried and impossible to use. It was a completely isolated stellar body, which was why it served Kali to hide there. Although the Tauri belonged to Ra, it was a world he had long ago abandoned and cared nothing for. (No doubt the human uprising 5000 years ago that drove him away from there still left a bitter aftertaste he did not wish to be reminded of.)  
Baal considered both the facts and his options. As it currently looked, since Ra didn't bother with that world, a single Ha'tak vessel could slip through unnoticed without attracting attention. Baal's fleet of seven ships however would not. And Ra was one adversary he did not wish to engage battle with at this time. Ra was the system lord besides Sokar that was the most powerful. It wasn't however his might that was the main problem…

One thing that all Goa'uld had in common was that they were all vain and megalomaniac, but Ra had one streak that made him close to unreasonable: he was eccentric. Ra had a fondness of beauty in youth and vitality, that was why his host was one of a teenage boy. He even surrounded himself with children in his closest company.  
One of the Goa'ulds biggest lies were that with each host they took, nothing of the original personality survived. But that wasn't entirely true – one side effect with each blending was that each Goa'uld symbiote would end up taking some of the characteristics that could be found in every new host. And since Ra had chosen a teenage host, he had taken on the traits of youthful arrogance, impatience, and distrust for others. If Baal went after Kali into Ra's domain, the other wouldn't be interested in the fact it was to stop a coalition with Sokar, even though he too was an enemy of Ra. (He had only sided with Apophis against Sokar due to the fact that they were brothers, and even that had been a tense cooperation.) Ra would only see it as an intrusion and respond as such. Even though the Tauri was of no interest to him, Ra would retaliate by sheer principal.  
Such an action would also leave Baal with a bad reputation. The Tauri was a backwater world – it had no strategic position of any kind. To go into war for such a worthless rock in space would brand Baal to be a fool. Reputation was a powerful tool if it leaned in the right way, and Baal was known to be a cunning god. It was a reputation he could not afford to ruin - which meant that he could not go after Kali.

"What do we do now, my lord?" the Jaffa at the Peltac asked.  
Baal leaned back in his throne in a relaxed posture. "We wait," he said simply. "Kali went there to hide, not to run. But she won't be able to hide there for long, there isn't much on that world that can help sustain her or meet her requirements for repairs. And there's no way off there except by ship. Eventually she will have to reveal her position, and we'll be waiting for it."  
"But… what if she does something that will gain her a new advantage?"  
Baal only scoffed. "The Tauri is a primitive world. What harm can she possibly do there?"


	2. Dropping in

It was midnight over India. The rays of the full moon shone over the palace of Pankot and illuminated the overgrown gardens. There had not been anyone living there for seventy years, and it was amazing that the walls still stood strong and proud. While the palace itself was deserted, the secret underground catacombs beneath it were not. Caves, some natural and others dug out, branched out like the crown of a tree through the solid rock, and within those people moved. Their activity there was as secret as the caves were – no one except those who had been initiated knew about the tunnels. It was the call of the full moon that had summoned the mystery people there, as it did every month. Their duty compelled them to, to pledge their devotion to their goddess.

It was in the central cave they gathered, the worshippers, the believers. It was a vast hole in the mountain, a part of divided by a chasm that opened a gap down to the very blood of the earth itself. There was a volcanic reservoir right beneath the floor of the cave, where superhot lava flowed through its own veins in the rock, the light of the fierce fire illuminating the upper level of the crevice with an eerie hellish red glow. It was a fitting environment for the people who walked in there, as it fitted the god they had come to worship. It was a place of death.  
One side of the crevice was mostly carved rock, but on the other side, it was much more sculpted. There was an altar on the other side of the gap, and it was mostly dominated by a large, grotesque statue. It was a statue of Kali, and the people who came to view upon her were her devoted children. They were Thuggees, a religious cult that had pledged their lives to worship the evil Hindu god of death and destruction, and they had come to pay her their tribute. They did this every full moon, as they were currently not powerful enough to remain in these parts for full time. During the rest of the time of the month, the catacombs were as devoid as the palace above. But the tribute had to be paid, and tonight they were going to do so.

Heavy drum beats resonated through the large cavern and a couple of the visitors were singing along with it, emitting a chanting of a horrid context. "Jai ma Kali… Jai ma Kali…" A sadistic ritual was taking place, one which involved a human sacrifice. On the floor with the statue, a couple of priests were coming into view. Their faces were painted with markings that could be connected to voodoo symbols, making their heads resemble that of a naked skull. They were spraying an incense above the crevice, which helped clear the gaseous fumes that came from below. One man stepping onto the altar was not as painted as the others. He wasn't really a priest, more like an overseer. Dressed in a crimson tunic with a dark turban covering his scalp, he walked across the floor like he owned the place. His name was Kamala Khan. It looked like he had a pleasant personality with his not-so-dark-eyes, pointy black moustache, and pipe-beard, but it was a façade. He was as devoted to the sect like the rest, as it was he who had risen it back from the ashes. It was he who arranged the summits and oversaw finding suitable victims and make them disappear without a trace upon abduction. He was also a recruiter to their cause. He could see that the cavern was as filled as it was going to get with those who had come to watch the ceremony. There were some new faces and some old. It was discouraging to see that there were not so many of them. After the slaughter of the Thuggees by the British all those years ago, it had been hard work to rebuild the cult as it had to be conducted in secrecy. In time there would be more, but it was a slow process.  
Among the familiar faces, Kamala spotted the one who seemed the most eager for the ceremony. What was his name again? Chatting Lal? No. _Chattar_ Lal! A schooled man, but one who believed firmly in Kali and in the Thuggee ways. Kamala predicted that Lal would go far in the cult.

As the drums continued to beat in its steady rhythm, Kamala's friend, and associate of the Thuggees arrived at the scene. He was the high priest of the cult, his black and scarlet trimmed robes hanging heavy from his shoulders, and his head crowned with the horns of the water buffalo it was said he had killed with his own hands. His name was Ram. He was the _Mola_ , the executioner priest who did the actual killing during the rituals, and he felt absolutely no remorse for doing so. By all standards, Ram was as bad as they come, but he only saw himself as a loyal servant to Kali. In his mind, he felt that he was bestowing the victims a great honor for having their lives given to Kali.  
Mola Ram let his eyes sweep over the crowd on the other side of the crevice. Like Kamala, he was displeased with that there weren't as many worshippers that he would've liked to see here, but what really annoyed him was the look of the faces of the newcomers. There were four of them this time, and they looked scared and nervous, as if they couldn't believe that they were actually there, about to witness a real sacrifice. This ritual was their initiation rite, and it would be interesting to see how much they could stomach. They were invited because back in their own villagers, these newcomers were only a bunch of simpleminded souls, lost in a pathetic community without a goal in life. They so desperately needed something to believe in, to feel belonged somewhere. When Kamala had recruited them, he'd promised a meaningful life with fortune and glory, but of course they would have to be prepared to devote themselves to the Thuggee way. They would always claim at first that they would have no problem with it, but now as they were here… well… those who would not be able to stand was going to happen here were never going to return to their villages. They would either pledge their loyalty, or they would die right here after the ceremony was completed.

Mola Ram was so looking forward to this. He always felt as he did the first time he witnessed a sacrifice – one he was at the beginning never meant to see. He had been a child back then, living in what appeared to be a completely normal life with a loving father and grandfather. They were known to be kind people, always helping their neighbors, and doing their chores for the village. But once in a month, every time it was a full moon, the two adults would go out and leave young Ram all alone, and they would never tell him where they were going.  
One-night young Ram had grown displeased with always being left out. He had pretended to sleep, waiting for the adults to leave the house, and then he had followed them. Ram had imagined that he would find his father and grandfather at a brothel, but never had he imagined that he would find them in a clearing together with a large group of people performing a ritual sacrifice dedicated to a six-armed goddess with a ghoulish face. As he had secretly watched, he witnessed as the _mola_ , who was none other than his loving grandfather, was using a ceremonial knife on a bound man, slitting the living victim's throat and had him bleed to death.  
When he had been discovered, Ram's father had expected to see his son to be traumatized, but that had not been the case. Ram had taken pleasure in seeing what the cult of the Thuggee had been about, and he had pleaded to the adults to be initiated into it, which they accepted.

Both his father and grandfather were gone, and Ram was the _mola_ now. Before he had died, the grandfather had shown his grandson the ancient secret temple underneath Pankot palace, and Ram had promised to him that he would return the Thuggees to their previous glorious state before the British had butchered them. Together with the title, Ram had inherited the ceremonial knife and had been entrusted with their greatest treasure which would help them in their cause: the sacred Sankara stones. There used to be five of them, but he only had two. Ram had sworn to find the other stones, but it was a slow process. He was beginning to wonder if he would manage to do it in his lifetime. It was lucky that Kamala Khan had approached him shortly after the death his relatives. Ram had no scruples with killing, but he was no administrator. He had absolutely no idea how to talk people into joining the cult of the Thuggee - but Kamala did. The other had quite the mouth to talk new people into joining the sect without using threats and violence, something that Ram otherwise would've done.  
Kamala was to prove that statement again, as it was time to address the worshippers. He walked up to stand by Ram's side in the center of the altar by the crevice, where a half-island was carved out in the cliff. From a scroll, he read aloud in Hindi: "Kali Ma protects us! We are her children! We pledge devotion by worshipping her with offerings of flesh and blood!"

From behind the statue a wail was heard, and two more priests brought out a struggling man. Kamala walked away again, but Mola Ram remained where he was, standing with his back turned against the commotion behind him the whole time, while the priests shackled the victim to some chains hanging from two outstretched arms of the Kali-statue. They also fastened his feet to the smooth floor so that he wouldn't be able to kick out or do any more struggle.  
It wasn't until they were done that Mola Ram turned around, walking up to the helpless man with a wicked smile. The victim watched with terror how the high priest drew the ceremonial knife from his robes and held it above his head, presenting it to the statue of Kali, and he chanted: "Bali Mangthi Kali Ma." [Sacrifice is what Mother Kali desires] "Bali Mangthi Kal…"  
Mola Ram was suddenly interrupted as a strange tremor was coursing through the cave. It appeared to be an earthquake, because dust was falling from the ceiling. The worshippers looked around nervously, almost expecting a cave-in. Someone was actually saying that it was Shiva coming to punish them. Mola Ram made a mental note to have that fool killed. The tremors stopped however, and everything was calm again. The drummers resumed the beating and the chanting returned. The ceremony would proceed. "Bali Mangthi Kali Ma!" Mola Ram finished chanting and brought the knife against the sobbing man's throat.

But before he could do anything, Mola Ram was once again interrupted, this time by a sound he had never heard before, coming directly from above him. Mola Ram looked up at the ceiling towards the source of the disturbance. He had never taken much notice of what was up there, the only thing that could be seen was an old ventilation shaft that for some reason was blocked, but he hadn't bothered with pondering on why it was. But now he was startled to see that the shaft was opening with several pointy wedge-like plates retracting, and a bright light shone down on him from the newly revealed opening. The 'ventilation shaft' or whatever it was wasn't empty. As the last of the plates that had covered the opening was retracted into the sides, something inside the newly opened shaft was released. Five weird metallic rings within it fell down! Mola Ram quickly jumped out of the way before the heavy rings crashed down atop of him.  
To everybody's astonishment, the rings never connected to the ground. The first falling ring came to rest hovering above the floor as if being cushioned by air, missing the bound victim precisely and ended up surrounding the half-island of the altar where Mola Ram usually stood. All five rings piled atop on each other, without connecting, with a metallic electronic sound, and within those an even brighter light suddenly flashed. The rings were suddenly pulled up again by an invisible force and the devices all disappeared back into the shaft of the ceiling. There it sealed up again, as if nothing had been disturbed.

Something had changed however. The spot where the strange rings had fallen down was no longer empty. On the half-island stood a new group of people with a marking on each of their foreheads. There were five of them, armored with grey-colored plates over chain mail tunics, and each was carrying a long staff. They looked just as surprised of the development as the Thuggees were. But it was the newcomers who recovered first.  
"Jaffa! Kree!" a man with a golden symbol on his forehead called out, and all of the newcomers now stood in battle positions, pointing their staffs ahead of them.  
Kamala Khan had now also gotten his wits straight, and barked an order. Two priests who served as guards rushed forward, drawing sabers to cut the intruders down. But they had not been prepared for what kind of resistance they would face. From the tip of the staff one of the intruders were carrying, a jolt of fire was released, and it connected with one of the approaching guards. The thug doubled over upon being hit and he fell to the floor, dead. The other guard met the same fate from another.

The intruders vacated the spot of the half-island, rushing 'inland'. They were not firing, but they used the staff weapons to club down every priest who still stood up and rounded them up. The shackled victim was completely ignored. The worshippers on the other side of the crevice could do nothing but to watch, unable to interfere. Among them, the devoted Chattar Lal stood calm and watched the whole development with interest. As all the priests and Kamala Khan were gathered, the newcomers herded them together. Their leader, the one with the golden markings on his head, glanced up at the statue and addressed the prisoners. "Do you serve Kali?" he asked.  
Mola Ram stood defiant. He would not be intimidated. "We are the children of Kali Ma! Who dares to disturb our sacred ritual?"  
"Silence!" the other commanded. "Get down on your knees, vermin! Bow before your master!"  
"I will bow for _no one!"_ Mola Ram raged. His defiance enraged the leader in return. He pointed the tip of off his staff at the high priest's face – the outer layer divided, uncovering a muzzle within which flashed as it charged up. He would've fired, had not the rings dropped down from the ceiling again.  
The rings' transport-cycle proceeded exactly as they had done previously, and the device once again disappeared up into the compartment in the roof of the cave. Three new beings occupied the floor where the rings had dropped: two more of the armored soldiers who served as an escort for the third. The final arrival raised every eye of the Thuggees as they gazed upon the being.  
"Kneel before your god: Kali!" the Jaffa leader announced.

Every member of the murder-cult was awe-stricken. The being before them who towered over them had six arms, a pointy ghoulish face with pronounced features from the forehead of a slightly oversized skull, and flattened nostrils. The head-dress and the other ornamental clothing blended to her body making it look like it was a permanent part of her, completing her regal presence. Her resemblance matched that of the giant statue perfectly. As she gazed over the Thugs, her eyes flashed, completing the look of the burning eye-sockets of the statue. Everybody, except for Mola Ram and Kamala, dropped down on their knees immediately. "Kali!" they murmured. "Kali Ma! She has come before us!"  
Mola Ram walked slowly up before new arrival, not believing his eyes. He stopped before her, taking in her presence, comparing her features to the statue – it didn't take long before he too was convinced, and he also fell to his knees. "Oh, mighty Kali," he whispered in respect. Kamala Khan was the only one left standing now, not fully comprehending what was happening. The first prime of the Jaffa, Kru'ul, made him bow down by striking him behind his knees, robbing him of his balance. He dropped with a loud groan.  
Mola Ram did not notice any of the reprimand Kamala got. He was solely and completely focused on what he believed was his one true god. "We are gratified by your arrival!" Mola Ram babbled. "The honor of gazing upon your might… we are not worthy…"  
"You most certainly are not!" Kali spoke with a snort. Her distorted voice echoed in the cavern. "I must say I'm surprised. I had not expected to find someone here…"  
"Kali Ma, we are your children," Mola Ram quickly said. "We are those who swore to never abandon your name or your guidance…"  
"It does please me that I have not been forgotten…" Kali replied, looking around. "It displeases me however to see that there aren't so many here to honor me!"  
"Please forgive us! We've had several major setbacks over the years…"

Kali wasn't interested in hearing Mola Ram's groveling anymore. As she finished her sweep, her eyes finally came to rest upon the bound man before the altar. The victim cringed in fear as Kali came up before him. "And what is this?" she asked. "Are you conducting an interrogation?"  
"He is our gift of flesh and blood… to you, your grace." Mola Ram said. "In your honor!"  
The victim was whimpering. "Om Namha Shivaye, Om Namha Shivaye..."  
Kali chuckled. "You think Shiva will come to your rescue?" She raised one of her hands that was carrying a golden arm-band. From the palm, a pulsing beam of energy emitted and radiated upon the bound man's head, causing him pain. "Shiva was a _Tok'ra_ … who is _dead_ by my hands!"  
Mola Ram didn't know what a Tok'ra was – he figured it was an insult of some kind. It pleased him however to learn of his demise.  
Kali ceased the torture of the man – it had given her a moments pleasure to inflict suffering upon him. But she was curious of the ritual their arrival had interrupted.  
"A gift in my honor, you say?" she said, walking away. "Then proceed. Give him to me!"  
Although weakened by the mind torture, the victim cried out as he heard that he was still going to be sacrificed. His last futile hope had been drained from him. His death had been ordered by a god, and his own god would not come to his rescue. He wailed in despair.

With a wave of his hand, Mola Ram ordered the musicians to resume the beating on the drums. The high priest raised his hands, attracting the attention of everyone present. Mola ram felt exhilaration course through him – this was no longer just an ordinary sacrifice. This was one to be witnessed by Kali Ma personally, and he would not disappoint her.  
" _Bali Mangthi Kali Ma!"_ he called over the noise. Then he turned to the terrified indian, holding the sacrificial knife tightly in his hand. The rhythm of the drums quickly climbed up to its climax.  
" _Maaro maaro sooar ko, chamdi nocho pee lo khoon!_ " ["Kill, Kill the pig, flay his skin, drink his blood."] And with those words, Mola Ram slit the victim's throat. The indian tried to scream, but he could only gurgle as blood poured up in his mouth as well as streaming down his chest from the open wound. He sagged in his bounds, hanging heavily from the shackles, coughing, and gurgling some more to clear his windpipe in an attempt to inhale oxygen - but the way down his lungs had become clogged with his own life-fluids that was now choking him. He wheezed, then he lost consciousness. Within minutes he would be dead. Mola Ram turned to the worshippers, holding up the smeared knife to show that blood had been spilled in the honor of Kali. He turned to the goddess to present her the gift of the man's life. He halted however as he saw that Kali didn't seem to be the least bit amused.  
"Was that all?" she scoffed. "Nowhere near satisfying!" And with that she left the altar with her Jaffa in tow, disappearing down the catacombs of the temple. Mola Ram and the Thuggees were left dumbfounded and troubled as it dawned on them that they had failed to meet their god's demands.


	3. The Sankara stones

"I _told_ you the rituals were too lame!" Mola Ram spat. He and Kamala Khan were sitting on a rock, where they had been waiting for the last four hours outside the chamber of priests behind the sacrificial cave. They were waiting to be granted an audience with Kali who had taken residence inside. Two Jaffa stood guard outside the door to make sure that the Tauri-pigs did not attempt to enter before Kali was ready for them. During that time, several Jaffa patrols had come and gone from the chamber. There had arrived quite a lot through the rings the last hours and they were patrolling the caves. The worshippers from the ritual had all been placed under house-arrest somewhere in the catacombs, forbidden to leave. A matter that didn't concern Mola Ram. The waiting however was starting to get to him.  
The two leaders of the Thuggee cult had up until now been sitting quietly, but during that time, Mola Ram had built up an agitation after the failed sacrifice. It troubled him tremendously that in the after-effects of Kali Ma's unexpected and miraculous arrival, the high priest had done nothing more but managing to displease her. He, who had devoted his whole life to honor her name, had never imagined that he would actually get to see Kali face to face… such an occasion should warrant nothing less but a grandeur greeting, and he had failed miserably. The disappointment had roamed his mind for the whole time after Kali had left the altar, but it was now he had finally worked up the anger to say something about it.

"I've always known that Kali would demand something more exquisite than that! Her thirst for blood is legendary…"  
"Blood _is_ being spilled," Kamala shortly pointed out to him.  
"I'm thinking that we should remove some organs in the next sacrifice. Cut out the heart, the lungs… maybe even carve out the brain…"  
Kamala looked sick. "We don't require such exaggerated brutality! We get the desired effect with what we already do…"  
"Kali Ma wants more!" the high priest persisted.  
"How do we know that is even Kali?" Like Mola Ram, Kamala's thoughts had been preoccupied with the recent developments. Like his friend, Khan had never expected that Kali would drop in on them like she had, but unlike the high priest, he was doubtful of their visitor being the genuine article. Gods don't just drop in like that from out of nowhere. "How do we know that this isn't some elaborate hoax?"  
Mola Ram threw Kamala a very sharp look. "Do you question the existence of Kali Ma?!"  
"No, of course not!" Kamala quickly answered. "But I'm questioning that… _thing_ really being Kali! It could be a trick, conducted by the brotherhood of Shiva…"

The brotherhood of Shiva was a religious group like the Thuggee, but their holy mission was to eradicate the remnants of the evil sect the British had butchered about a hundred years ago. They had sworn not to allow Kali's followers to come into power ever again.  
"The brotherhood is a pestering enemy, but they can't do the magic Kali did when she came." Ram said. "Besides, they would never sink to level of disguising themselves into the god they hate above anything."  
"How can we be sure of that…?"  
"It is her!" Mola Ram said with finality. "I know it! This is a glorious day for the Thuggee, when Kali Ma returns to her children."  
"I'm just saying that we should be cautious…"  
"Of what?" Ram scoffed. "You're holding the brotherhood of Shiva in too high esteem! They may be worshipping Shiva, but they're still only _human!_ Kali Ma is a _god!_ She is capable of doing things that we will never be able to comprehend!" From the corner of his eye, Mola Ram could see that the two Jaffa standing guard were nodding in confirmation.

Kamala was troubled. His co-worker for the sect was all-the-way convinced that the beast inside the chamber was the one true goddess of death. And he believed it so strongly that he would without question relinquish control of the cult over to this intruder. That was not what Kamala had in mind when he first set out to rebuild the ways of the Thuggee. His plan was something else entirely… something he hadn't even told Mola Ram. This new development with the sudden arrival of a 'god' was threatening to ruin everything he had worked for…  
The door opened, and another lowly Jaffa came out. Except for the one with the golden emblem on his forehead, Ram couldn't tell any of the other ones apart. They all looked alike to him.  
"The lord Kali is ready to see you now," the Jaffa announced.  
Ram and Khan got up from the rock they been sitting on and strode up towards the entrance to the priest's chambers. Within it, there was a massive collection of ritualistic statues and relics – treasures which ancient priests had managed to save from past lootings and then hidden there. And in the far end of the chamber, sitting on a throne of bones, was Kali the Destroyer, flanked by two more Jaffa. She was absentmindedly playing with a candle-fire with one of her lizard-textured hands, the same way the Goa'uld Sokar would do. When the two leaders of the Thuggee-cult stumbled in, Mola Ram forgot all about the time he had to spend waiting outside. The might and the very presence of his god filled him with such wonder and astonishment that he almost went petrified. She was so powerful! Mola Ram instantly got down on his knees, bowing before the Goddess of death. Reluctantly, Kamala did the same.

By Kali's side, a woman aide was pouring up a glass of liquid from a pitcher which she handed to her master. Kali took it in one of her hands, and with another waved the Lo'taur away. The woman complied without a word. Kali took a sip from the glass before she spoke.  
"It has been many thousand of years since I last set foot in this temple," she said in her distorted voice. "Yet I remember it as if it was only a few days ago…  
"Back then these catacombs were in a state worthy of a god, with ornate walls and decorated with the most wonderful treasures, tributes paid by the people I ruled over… So tell me: why do I find the temple being in such a _shamble_ today?!"  
"The temple was raided a century again, O mighty Kali Ma," Mola Ram quickly said from the floor. "British officers invaded the catacombs and committed sacrilege to your name… they slew every one of your followers and stole the treasures, destroying the architecture in the process… the treasures were dispersed and sold by the thieves… my forebears were overwhelmed… there was no way to stop the invaders."  
"They allowed themselves to be vanquished!" Kali growled. "They have _failed_ their god!"  
Kamala raised his head slightly. "I'm sure they did everything in their power to…"  
" _Silence!_ " Kali barked. "I am not interested in hearing pathetic excuses!" Kamala quickly bent down his head again.

Kali emptied her glass in one gulp before she angrily threw it away into the corner where it shattered. The Goa'uld then motioned to her the aide again with a new glass in which the woman had already filled with the drink that would keep the primordial rage of the Unas at bay. There were some disadvantages with having an Unas body as the bestial emotions threatened to overwhelm her. Kali downed the liquid and threw the glass again. But at least this time the drink had taken effect.  
"Tell me," Kali began in a slightly calmer mood. "What is it that makes you worthy to carry on my name where others have failed?"  
"We are your most strongest devotees…" Mola Ram began.  
"Are you indeed?" Kali questioned. "From what I saw of those pathetic lowlifes watching the ceremony, I sincerely doubt it!"  
"They do not yet fathom the might you carry, O Kali Ma. They don't understand…"  
"It is _you_ who don't understand, Mola Ram!" Kali interrupted. "I demand retribution for the loss your forebears have allowed the invaders to do me! Since it is you who have mantled the leadership of the cult, it is from _you_ that I will exact a price of compensation!"  
Kamala looked up again. "S-surely you can't hold _us_ responsible for…?"  
"I am a god! I can hold every sin done to me in pass-down the line if I chose to!"  
"W-what is the price you demand?" Kamala could almost feel the fiery eyes of the demon-god burn into him.  
"That depends what you have to offer!" Kali stated. "Be warned: I expect nothing less but something spectacular – a tribute worthy of a god! Fail to offer it to me, and your lives will be forfeit!"  
"Gold?" Kamala offered. "Diamonds? Sacrifices?"  
Kali's eyes flashed in irritation. With a signal to the two Jaffa in the chamber, the guards pointed their staff-weapons at the two huddling Thuggee.

"Wait, wait, wait…!" Kamala pleaded in panic. "I was only enumerating things that might be of interest for you…!"  
"If that's all you have, then you've got _nothing!_ " Kali snarled. "Jaffa!" The shells of the Jaffa's staff-weapons parted and revealed the muzzles, energizing them.  
Mola Ram now spoke up. "Mighty Kali, please forgive Kamala's shortsightedness. I am ashamed that he was trying to offer a low tribute worthy only of a simple king when your magnificence demands a tribute that is worthy of the gods!"  
"And what do _you_ have that you believe is of worth to me?" the demon challenged.  
"If you please, O Kali Ma… that chest over there on the niche – it's our most sacred relics…"  
Kamala looked over at his friend in alarm. "Ram! Those were to be saved for…"  
"…for our _god!_ " Mola Ram emphasized sternly.  
"Trao'l! Check it out!" Kali ordered. The Jaffa left his position and went over to the niche Mola Ram had pointed out. He opened the chest to see so it wasn't boobytrapped in some way… the contents seemed to impress him. He closed the lid again, picked the chest up and walked over to his master, where he presented the container to her. When Kali didn't make a move, Trao'l opened the chest again… a golden glow emanated from the opening. Kali leaned forward, her interest finally piqued. There were two stones inside – stones that were glowing with an un-earthly power.

Kali was for once almost speechless. "Are those…? Those are…!"  
"They are Sankara stones, O mighty Kali Ma," Mola Ram said from the floor where he was still kneeling. "The magic rocks that Shiva gave the priest Sankara at Mount Kalisa."  
Kali took the chest from Trao'l, holding it with one pair of hands while another pair picked up the stones from the box. She held the relics close together before her face, then she spread her arm wide apart. The glow of the rocks extinguished, looking only like two smooth worthless stones. But then she brought them together again, and they glowed once more. Kali's eyes burned with desire and anticipation, knowing what kind of power that resided within the rocks. She had been searching for these for a long time.  
There was one more thing within the chest: a piece of old cloth, on which a painting of sorts had been drawn. Kali picked it up to examine it. There she now was, holding a chest in one pair of hands, two rocks in another pair, and a piece of unfolded cloth in the last. The unnatural sight would have looked comical, hadn't it been for Kali's malevolence. Her extra appendages were to inflict terror and respect, and to legitimize her power as a god.  
The piece of cloth was old. The pictograph representing a mortal and the false god Shiva exchanging the five 'magical' stones. The Sanskrit telling the legend was of an old dialect, but Kali could make out how it told of Shiva presenting the stones to the priest Sankara to combat evil.

Kali had to work hard to hold back a laughter. How typical of superstitious mortals when attempting to retell a story and getting the facts wrong! Their simple-mindedness always made them believe that the gods had to be the benevolent party when it came to the supernatural. _'Magic rocks.'_ Kali knew the truth! She had learned the real story when she had exposed the impostor Shiva and subjugated him to interrogation with a Goa'uld mind-recalling device.  
It had not been Shiva whom had offered a mortal priest the sacred rocks: it was quite the opposite! Kali still didn't know today what to make of the story, but it appeared that the priest Sankara was one of the last people of an ancient lantian civilization whom had fled to Earth through the stargate some ten thousand years ago or more from another galaxy, fleeing a conflict with some wraith-like species. The final fate of those people was still a mystery: many had fallen victim to a plague, while others had ascended to a higher plane of existence, leaving behind many of their technological equipment. The remnants of their civilization should have remained hidden and undisturbed forever, but at the time of the Goa'ulds rise to power, there was one Goa'uld who had discovered the legends of the lantians and had sought to covet the technology for his own. A Goa'uld named Anubis.  
When the ascended Sankara realized that their left-over technology would pose a danger to the galaxy should Anubis get his hands on them and tipping the balance of power to his favor, the ancient defied their group-rule of non-interference policy and he descended back to this plane of existence to hide all the artefacts so that those wouldn't fall into Anubis' hands. Sankara kept guard over them for thousands of years, even after Anubis' death.

Anubis may have fallen into oblivion, his exact fate unknown, but afterwards the Goa'ulds of today rose to claim power, and the Earth itself became a central point for their hosts. Sankara was greatly concerned of this development, but he could do nothing about it. He had grown old and unable to maintain his self-appointed duty to keep guard over their artefacts. But somehow, he had kept watch of the development, and had even before the Goa'uld system lords themselves learned of the Goa'uld queen Egeria's treachery, spawning a large quantity of symbiotes which became the Tok'ra who would infiltrate and combat the Goa'uld. Shiva had been one of her first. Sankara had approached Shiva, and it was to him he had entrusted the five stones that would combat the threat to the galaxy.  
The Sankara stones wasn't magical - they drew their power continuously from subspace. What they do however is that they tap into the flow of the atoms and enhance their functions on a molecular level. Individually they could inconspicuously accelerate and enhance cellular divisions of the environment near it. Theoretically one stone alone could make crops and wood to grow lush and strong with life, but that didn't interest Kali. What did interest her was that when all five stones were together, their power would increase a hundred-fold. And if the one who possessed all stones could harness and control that power, there was no limit to what you could do!  
It was said that all five Sankara stones could alter the atomic structure of any basic substance and change it into a whole new element. Lead could be turned into gold for example: that was why 'Sankara' had been the word for fortune and glory. And ordinary rock could be turned into nagahdah, which was the basic element for the Goa'ulds power! The one who would possess the Sankara stones would rule the galaxy!

Shiva had realized the potential of the stones, and it had scared him. He never dared to use them in fear that they would be stolen and used in a wrong way. So contrary to Sankara's intentions when he had entrusted Shiva the stones, the Tok'ra had dispersed them and hid them in all corners of the world. When Kali had exposed Shiva as a Tok'ra and interrogated him, she had learned everything she knew about the rocks – except where to find them! Shiva had finally committed suicide by releasing the symbiote's own toxin into the bloodstream of the host and thereby ruining the brainstem. Not even revival through a sarcophagus could repair that damage. Shiva had died taking the secret of the locations of the Sankara stones with him!  
All this knowledge flowed through Kali's thoughts in a mere instant, but it was not any kind of information she had any intention of sharing with Mola Ram or Kamala Khan. Instead she went straight to her demands.  
"These are only two rocks! Where are the other three?"  
"They're here, O mighty Kali Ma," Mola Ram quickly answered. "Somewhere in this temple." He hesitated a moment before he went on. "Two of them at least… the last one is still unaccounted for. But it is our hope that with four stones in our possession, we will be led to the last one."  
Kali was growing irritated again. "Do you or do you _not_ have more stones?"

Mola ram looked apologetic. "Err… the thing is, O mighty Kali… the stones you're holding did we manage to track down thirty years ago in Europe, where they had been sold by thieves after they had been dispersed by wars. We know that there are two more somewhere in this temple… we just don't know where. A loyal priest hid them when the British raided this place a century ago. Unfortunately, he was killed before he could tell anyone where he had put them. And after they'd looted them, the British blew the tunnels, collapsing them. We suspect that the two Sankara stones are somewhere deep within the rock, waiting to be dug out."  
"But we don't have the resources or manpower to do so," Kamala filled in. "Such a task would require a permanent residence here, and that's a risk we cannot take. We have enemies looking for us and we cannot allow them to find us here. We should have vacated this temple before the sun went up. I therefore implore to you to allow us to…"  
"You are not going anywhere!" Kali growled.  
"But our enemies…" Kamala persisted.  
"…are of no concern to me!" Kali then fell silent for a while, studying the stones in her hands and contemplating on what she had learned.

Finally she came to a decision. Kali put the stones back in the chest and closed the lid, and then she signaled her Jaffa to disarm. The two soldiers secured their weapons by closing the outer housing of the muzzle at the end of their staffs and they withdrew them, stepping back.  
"You may rise now," Kali said to the Thuggee. Neither Ram or Khan said anything, but they were happy to stand up again. Their knees had been screaming in protest in the last minutes, causing them a massive ache. Kamala was relieved. It appeared that the god had decided to spare them.  
"The Sankara stones are the key to unlimited power," Kali told the two cult-leaders. "With them we can rule entire worlds! We must find the others! I must _have_ them!"  
"And so you shall, O mighty Kali Ma!" Mola Ram instantly agreed.  
Kamala was about to raise an objection when another Jaffa came into the chamber. "How dare you come here and interrupt, Be'lem?" Kali snarled at the newcomer.  
"Please forgive the intrusion, my lord," Be'lem quickly said. "Kru'ul sent me to report that there has been a development with the prisoners that you need to know about." Be'lem was talking about the rest of the worshippers at the sacrifice which the Jaffa had rounded up and put under guard.  
"What about them?" Kali demanded?  
"It appears that two of them are spies, my lord!"


	4. The Brotherhood of Shiva

Escorted by a cohort of her Jaffa, Kali the Destroyer arrived at the main cave of the underground complex where the worshippers had been rounded up and stood under guard by more of Kali's servants. Mola Ram and Kamala Khan was following close behind, each with his own sense of bad feeling.  
Kamala was the nervous one, feeling a sense of dread. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Spies within their midst? It had to be a mistake. He had sorted out and carefully handpicked the candidates personally, each of them having displayed the typical personality he found suitable to assimilate into the Thuggee. None of them could have fooled him somehow, could they?  
Mola Ram was just plain angry. He didn't like the idea of spies having managed to infiltrate them in this critical stage. Kali Ma had made it clear from the start that she was displeased with the Thuggee – and the discovery of spies might even find them to be completely _incompetent_ in her eyes. The high priest did not want to antagonize his god any further, but now it appeared that they had managed to do so once again. He felt a need to kill someone to quench his anger.

Kali stopped before her first prime Kru'ul, whom was currently supervising the guard-detail of the detained group of worshippers. Two from the group had been singled out and they were sitting on their knees outside of the crowd under guard by more Jaffa. Kru'ul bowed before his god.  
"Are those the ones?" Kali asked, indicating to the accused. It looked like they had been beaten.  
"Yes, my lord," Kru'ul confirmed.  
"What made you think they are spies?" Kali demanded.  
"We're not spies!" one of them objected. He was hit in the back of his head hard with the club end of one of the Jaffa's staff weapons for his insolence of talking out of bounds.  
"It wasn't I, my lord," Kru'ul explained. "It came to my attention from another." He nodded towards another in the detained crowd. Chattar Lal stepped forward and bowed before the Goa'uld, going down on his own knees.  
"O mighty Kali Ma," Lal said. "It is my honor to serve you."  
Kamala let out troubled groan. He knew that Chattar Lal was one of the more devoted ones and it had before pleased him, thinking that he would go far. But now as he saw the man suck up to the god, Kamala felt disturbed. It might be that Chattar Lal was a little more ambitious than Khan had first thought, and such a man could in fact turn out to be quite dangerous to his position.

"Speak!" Kali commanded Chattar Lal.  
"Mighty Kali, I make it a habit to always watch my surroundings and to listen. I've had my suspicions of those two from the start that they were not who they claimed to be. And just a moment ago I overheard them talking… they're plotting to mass a coup against you, mighty Kali, as they do not believe that you are who you really are!"  
"Oh, they don't, do they?" Kali scoffed. The demon walked up to the accused spies and addressed them.  
"Who am I?" she asked the men.  
"You… you say that you are Kali…" the men began. Kali growled and flung out two of her left arms which were clad with the energy ribbons. The palms of her hands lighted up above their heads and the energy emitted caused the men painful headaches.  
"I do not just _say!_ I _am!"_ she snarled as she tortured the men. The two gasped in agony and shuddered. After a while Kali released them, and she looked down at the pitiful men in distaste. "Now plead to me for forgiveness and swear loyalty to my name."  
The men didn't answer.  
"You dare to defy your god?!" Kru'ul roared. "Swear your loyalty!"  
The men still hesitated.  
"This… is an _outrage!"_ Kru'ul exclaimed. "They dare to do blasphemy!"

"No, Kru'ul," Kali calmly explained. "They are in fact loyal to their god. It's just not I who is. They have already sworn their lives to another and cannot do so to me as it would be a sacrilege to their own. A true devotee won't turn on his god even in pretense, as it goes against everything they believe in." She turned slightly to Chattar Lal. "It appears that you were correct in seeing them as spies." Lal bowed again in reply.  
"They will _pay_ with their lives!" Mola Ram growled.  
"They will," Kali confirmed. "But not before _I_ say so!" Kali turned to the spies again. "What are you doing here? Who do you work for?"  
The men had finally relented. "We'll tell you _nothing!_ It won't matter what you do to us! We are trained to withstand torture!"  
Kali gave them a wicked smile. "You think you know what pain is? You will find that you know _nothing_ of it!" Kali gave Kru'ul a signal, and the first prime smiled as well. From his hip he detached a rod and walked up behind the two intruders. He brought the rod forward to the first one – the tip contacted to his skin… and every nerve in his body was suddenly burned, and he screamed. There seemed to be a light coming from his insides shining brightly out of both his eyes and mouth. All who had never witnessed such a device before jerked back in surprise and fear, except for Mola Ram who looked on with interest. Kru'ul ceased the prodding of the first man, only to bring the pain rod over to the second, and it was his turn to scream.

Kali's mouth curled up into a glee, savoring the suffering of the men. This was the reason Kru'ul was her first prime: he was a true sadist in interrogation. The pain the men felt now at first was only the beginning. As the torture would progress, Kru'ul would move down to more sensitive areas. Kru'ul brought the rod down on the first man again, giving him another jolt of pain, and then over to the second once more. The screams of agony echoed over the entire cave.  
Kru'ul brought away the pain rod and spoke down to the panting men. "The god Kali asked you a question! Now you will answer her!"  
"N… never," one of them said defiantly. "If… t-that's the best you got… then you got nothing!"  
Kru'ul smiled wickedly. "Fools! This is just the _warm-up!"_ And then he prodded the men again, this time extending the sessions. The members of the Thuggee, whose cult was otherwise known to do horrible atrocities of their own, watched on with discomfort and uneasiness. Even some of Kali's Jaffa looked uncomfortable. Kamala Khan looked sick. Only Mola Ram seemed to take pleasure in this.  
After a while Kali signaled Kru'ul to cease. She leaned over the shivering men.  
"I want you to know something… the more you refuse to talk, the more painful is it going to get. So, please… feel free to keep _quiet!_ I'm quite enjoying the show!"  
The men gasped in horror as they realized that Kali was being much more maleficent than what they had first thought. And then the pain started again…

* * *

The two men gave up after a while, the torture being more what anyone could ever have imagined, and a lot more than what they had been trained to withstand. Sobbing and weeping, they confessed that they were part of the Brotherhood of Shiva, assigned to infiltrate the Thuggee to learn of their identities and to corroborate the place of the sacrificial rituals. Upon the next full moon, they planned to strike with full force and kill all worshippers of Kali and put an end to their terror.  
But now as the infiltrators had been exposed and would not return to their clan, the leaders of the brotherhood would figure out through elimination that the catacombs beneath Pankot Palace were indeed the place where the Thuggee resided and they would therefore make the attack much sooner. The brotherhood was as big as an army, with their numbers exceeding that of the Thuggee. The men decreed that the Kali-sect was doomed.  
Kali flashed her arm ribbons over their heads again, inducing more pain for their impudence. "So, you truly believe that this 'brotherhood of Shiva' can remove me from my power?" Kali snarled. "So, you're saying that your little army is on its way here to cut us down, in the name of _Shiva?"  
_ Kali ceased the torture, leaving the two spies sweating and shivering. They couldn't endure much more. "So, this little army of yours is on the way to deal with us?" Kali continued to mock them. "Well, _let_ them come! We shall be _waiting_ for them!"  
The demon straightened up and turned to her first prime. "These wretches have no more to tell us. But I'm sure they can provide me with one more amusement."  
Kru'ul snickered. "Would you like me to give them the 'special' send-off, my lord?"  
"Yes! Flay them! Skin them alive!"

* * *

The torment had been extensive, bloody, and extremely painful, but in the end all that finally remained of the two spies were naked corpses, not just of clothes, but of skin. The cave wasn't just oozing with the metallic smell of blood, but of bile as well. Many of the worshippers that had been forced to watch the manslaughter hadn't been able to stomach the 'show' – over half of them had retched, and the rest weren't far behind of doing the same. They were all pale in their faces – some were even crying - and they all longed to be out of there, wishing to never return. Kali the Destroyer had been enjoying watching the prolonged execution of the spies, but the reactions of the members from the cult angered her tremendously.  
"Clean up this mess," Kali ordered as she turned and headed back to the chamber. "And keep a close watch on the sniveling weakhearted fools so that none tries to run. Your own lives depend on it!" Kali turned on her heel and strode away with two of her Jaffa escorting her. It was a good thing that Kali's back was turned against her minions, because the faces of the Jaffa; Trao'l and Be'lem were quite pale and discouraged as well after what had just transpired. Had Kali seen them, she would do horrible things to them, they knew. The goddess despised weaklings within her own ranks.  
"What are you doing?" Kamala Khan asked as he and Mola Ram followed Kali out. "You're not saying that we shall _stay_ here, do you?"  
"Why shouldn't I?" Kali shot back. "It is _my_ temple!"  
"B… but… we've stayed here _too long!_ The Brotherhood knows we're here, and they're on their way! We should leave, or they will kill us all when they arrive!"

"No one leaves!" Kali repeated. "We will not run and cover from some deranged buffoons serving a false god!"  
"They will show us no mercy!" Kamala persisted.  
"Nor will I!" Kali snarled as they arrived back at the priest's chamber and the Goa'uld demon returned to her throne. As she sat there, she looked at the cult-leader with clear contempt. "So, what is it about this brotherhood that frightens you so, Khan? Who are they?"  
Kamala made the mistake of making his doubts heard. "You don't know? Aren't you as a god all knowing?"  
Kali exploded. " _You dare to_ _ **question**_ _me?!"_ Her eyes glowed strong in anger. Mola Ram moved away from the other to show that he did not share in Kamala's blasphemy.  
"F-forgive me, O mighty Kali Ma! I only meant that…"  
"What you meant is that you don't believe that I am your one and only god! Watch yourself closely, Kamala Khan! I have killed for lesser insults than that!"  
"I deeply apologize for my poor choice of words, O mighty Kali Ma." Kamala said, all shivering.  
"Don't call me 'Kali Ma'!" the demon snapped. "You have unearned yourself that favor! From now on you shall address a me as 'my lord Kali'! Insult me with anything else, and you shall die in the same manner I had those spies killed!"

Kali's female Lo'taur was immediately at the god's side and presented a goblet containing the Goa'uld ruler's special anger-depriving drink. The demon swallowed it quickly and threw the goblet away. She'd had to take that drink quite a lot lately. Feeling the brew calming her raging Unas-side down, she addressed the two Thuggee leaders again.  
"Of _course_ I know who the Brotherhood are," Kali lied to keep up her god-like appearance. Goa'ulds were after all only pretending. "But I want to hear it with _your_ words, so that I may hear what it is about them that scares you!"  
Kamala Khan could however not get any words to his mouth after having been told-off by Kali - he had completely lost his head. It was therefore Mola Ram who told the facts. "The brotherhood is a group of fanatics, O mighty Kali, who is led by the founder: Levar Zane. He is a Guru, whom has risen the religious teachings up to a military movement. Every member of the group has taken an oath to vanquish all those who worship in their opinion 'evil' gods in the name of Shiva – they especially hate us Thuggee for the human sacrifices. The guru Levar Zane has taught them all the skills of sword fighting and have them go through rigorous training exercises. The brotherhood is literally an army."

"The most feared of them is Roach," Kamala said, keeping his eyes downcast as he didn't dare to meet Kali's wrath. "They say he is an unstoppable giant. People have seen him receive rocks on his head and he just shrug it off. His hate for the Thuggee is a large as he and his resolve even bigger. He can kill a person with his bare hands."  
Khan looked up again. "If the brotherhood is coming here, they will slaughter us all! We should leave before they arrive!"  
"Again you speak of leaving!" Kali snarled. "Are you so cowardly to face them?"  
"My lord, none of us here has the skills to fight them. Every worshipper here… they're just simple people: farmers… villagers… students!"  
"A sad bunch that _you_ recruited!" Kali pointed out.  
"They were the best psychological candidates!" Kahn said in defense. "I singled out the outcasts and the social deprived. They were the ones so desperate to belong somewhere that they would be willing to renounce Krishna in favor for you, my lord! Any other kind wouldn't be so easily convinced!"  
"And how was it that you allowed yourself to be convinced by the two spies that they belonged to the anti-social? How could you let yourself be fooled?" Kali demanded.  
"They… they played their role well, my lord. I didn't realize…"

"You're a _fool_ , Kamala Khan! A fool and a _coward!"_ Kali signaled the two Jaffa standing guard at the door over. Her distorted voice turned slow and sibilant. "Trao'l, I don't want this _stunted slime_ in my sight again! Put him with the rest of the pigs and make sure he doesn't try anything!"  
The two Jaffa hooked their arms under Kamala's elbows and began dragging him out. "Wait, my lord! You can't…!" he started to protest, but he quickly realized that it would be a wasted effort. Instead he pleaded to the other. "Ram! Don't let her do this! She'll ruin _everything_ we've built here! We'll be losing an opportunity, _don't listen to her_ …!" That was all he had time to say before the door shut close and he was no longer heard. Kali fixed her eyes on the remaining Thuggee.  
"I have good thoughts to have him killed."  
"He's a misguided insect, O mighty Kali Ma," Mola Ram agreed. "He's not worth your time."  
"Neither should he be yours," Kali pointed out. "Why are you in coalition with him?"  
"I… it seemed right at the time, O mighty Kali Ma," Ram blubbered. "I am ashamed to say this, but I am just the mola… I do the sacrifices in your name, but administrations and recruiting are not my thing. Kamala approached me after my predecessors had died. His leadership is weak, but I must admit that we wouldn't have got this far without him."

"And that itself is hard to believe, considering what I have seen so far!" Kali snorted. "My temple in shambles, my name tarnished and repelled among the population in favor for a Tok'ra! I who once was one of the most powerful gods in this region: feared and worshipped! And yet it is the successors of my once great rule that disappoints me the most!" Mola Ram quivered as Kali stared intensively at him, her bestial eyes radiating anger. "Not only are the sacrifices quite dull – but what really disgusts me are those who is said to be my _worshippers!_ The people Khan has recruited are the saddest, weakhearted, puniest scum I have _ever_ seen! I do not allow them to roam free because they are not loyal. They will run and grovel under their beds at the first chance they get!"  
Sweat was glistening on the dome of Mola Ram's bald head. He wanted so much to reassure his god that the Thuggee was on its way to regain its once glorious power, but he knew that it would be a lie which would enrage Kali even more. He averted his eyes in shame, saying nothing. He hadn't realized how weak the Thuggee really were.  
"When I had those spies interrogated and executed, I watched the reactions on those so called 'worshippers': none of them could stomach what they saw. If my followers have no more guts than that, then I will never return to power! It pleased me though to see that you had better self-control than what they did. You even seemed to enjoy it as much as I."

The high priest finally dared to look up. Had the mighty Kali just praised him?  
"The spies deserved what they had coming to them," Ram said carefully. "And I have always felt that we should become harsher in our methods. Only through fear and no mercy will we quench all who stands against you. And only through blood spilled by our enemies can we become powerful!"  
"My sentiments exactly," Kali said. "There is going to be a lot of changes around here, Mola Ram. _Many_ changes! Not just to the temple, but perhaps even to you. The question is: are you willing to follow through with that?"  
Mola Ram got down to his knees. "O mighty Kali Ma: I exist only to serve you! I shall do everything you ask!"  
"Then I'm willing to give you another chance. But be wary with your choice of words when addressing me, Mola Ram! Khan's incompetence has depreciated the title of 'Ma' into a tarnish to my name, and if you do anything to disappoint me, I will not hesitate to kill you if you call me that at a completely wrong occasion! You are _not_ my son in some sense!"  
"I will keep that in mind, my lord Kali." Mola Ram said, bowing in complete humble.  
"Then let us not waste any more time. We got work to do."


	5. The blood of Kali

The work Kali the Destroyer had announced would be done to the temple was proceeding faster than what Mola Ram had expected it to do - the work being a refurbishment of the temple itself, or to be more precise: to the sacrificial altar. The high priest stood at the side, watching Kali's Jaffa giving the altar a complete overhaul. Some of them were standing on their knees in the middle of the floor where the priest killed his victims, cutting the blood-stained rock open with tools he would never understand the concept of. A hole had already been formed and a red gaseous, poisonous hot vapor was streaming up through it from the magma reservoir underneath their feet. A normal human being would be choking on the vapors and feeling his skin being singed from the heat, but although the Jaffa's were gasping for air from time to time, they kept working. Kali had said something about that the Jaffa's symbiotes were helping them withstand the gasses, but Mola Ram hadn't understood what she had been talking about, and he knew better than to ask her for an elaboration.

Mola Ram couldn't guess the purpose for a hole in the floor, neither could he understand the need to disassemble the magnificent statue. Ram gazed up to the empty spot against the cliff where the statue of Kali Ma had formerly stood erected and proud. To have it removed was in Ram's mind a sacrilege - to even do damage to the holy sculpture was punishable by death. But it was the god Kali herself who had issued the order to have the statue temporarily removed, and her orders were the law. Mola Ram would never be the one to question her motives, unlike the fool Kamala Khan. Why Kali allowed him to live was also beyond the high priest's understanding, but again: a decision he would not question. Kali's motives would eventually be clear to him, he took enough comfort than that. All it required was a little patience, which was unfortunately one of Mola Ram's greatest faults. Patience was something he sometimes lacked.

From the roof of the cave, the rings dropped down again onto the half-island of the altar floor. After a flash of bright light, the rings were pulled up again back into the compartment. Kali the Destroyer had returned. She had been back to her Ha'tak ship to recuperate in her sarcophagus and to check the status of any possible pursuers. The long-range sensors had revealed that Baal and his fleet was still holding position just outside the border, waiting for Kali to show. He would have to keep waiting, for Kali was not ready to leave just yet, not with the discovery of the Sankara stones and the power they held. It was fortunate for Kali that Baal would not risk a conflict with Ra by entering his territory, and Ra himself seemed to be unaware of that a rogue system lord had taken shelter on a backwater world in his domain, so the demon god was relatively safe for now.  
The Goa'uld spied the High priest and signaled him to follow her. Mola Ram rushed after the demon god immediately, eager to please his one and only master.

"I have been keeping watch from my vessel," Kali told the priest, keeping her words deliberately cryptic enough to keep her worshippers believing that she had come to them travelling in some magical wagon. It paid in the long run to keep up the façade of her being a real god. "I have discovered that there's a large group of people making their way to this position. It's large enough to qualify as an army on march."  
"It could be a British garrison on maneuver," Mola Ram speculated. "But there would be no reason for them to come here. We've always been careful to not attract the attention of the British, they would not know that we've taken up the Thuggee cult again. So that leaves only one other possibility: the Brotherhood of Shiva is on the way!"  
"You think in the same lengths as I. That's good," Kali said. "Based on their numbers and travelling speed, they will be here within two days. That's the time we have to prepare a suitable warm welcome for them."  
"What do you have in mind, O mighty Kali?" Mola Ram asked.  
"The worshippers in the cave will get their chance to prove their worth! They will be our first line of defense as the brotherhood enters the premises."

Mola Ram looked dubious. "My lord? Is that… wise?"  
"Do you question my decision?"  
"Not at all, O magnificent one!" the priest quickly returned. "A true devotee should feel no less than an absolute honor to fight and die in your name! It's just that…"  
"Speak your mind!" Kali demanded.  
"The worshippers, O mighty Kali… they're no fighters! Kamala Khan was correct in that assessment! The members of the Brotherhood of Shiva are all skilled swordsmen – they will slaughter everybody with ease without risking any loss to their own side! The worshippers will not give you victory!" There was a great lump in Mola Ram's throat as he said this. Again he became painfully aware of how weak the cult really was.  
"I couldn't agree more!" Kali said, to Mola Ram's surprise. "The fools Kamala Khan has recruited neither has the skills or the discipline to be of any real value to me. They fear more for their own lives instead of devoting themselves to serve me! This will be the perfect opportunity to weed out the worst cases!"

"That I understand," Mola Ram said, although he wasn't so sure that he really did. "I do fear however, that after what they saw you do to the two spies, there are a lot of them who may have had a change of heart and may not be so willing to follow you anymore. I think that we may risk be seeing a lot of traitors expose themselves once the brotherhood arrives."  
"Again I couldn't agree more," Kali concurred. It amazed Mola Ram to see his goddess act so calm about it. From what he had seen of the demon god thus far, she would lose her temper at the smallest nuisance. But right now, she was completely cool.  
"The worshippers need to be properly _motivated,_ " Kali continued. "and that is exactly what we are going to look more closely into now."  
The demon and the priest had now arrived back at the priest's chambers of the temple. As the door opened, the metallic scent of blood reached Mola Ram's nostrils from within. There were cadavers of newly slaughtered cattle inside – cows from which a couple of Jaffa were busy draining the animal blood into a copper vat. To any other Indian this would be considered a heinous crime: cows were sacred in India. But Mola Ram had never cared much for that belief.  
"Are you preparing a feast, My lord?"

"Don't be a fool!" Kali snarled. "My need of these ingredients my Jaffa has gathered has a more importance to the cause than just some silly dining activity! I want you to look closely, Mola Ram and burn the preparations I am about to do into your mind! This experiment will turn the balance of power into our favor!"  
For the next hour the priest was watching a preparation that was unknown even to the most gifted medical schoolers on the planet Earth. Along with the cattle, there were some piles of different herbs there as well. Ram learned that the special weeds that was grinded into a fine powder and mixed into the cattle blood was herbs of a psychotropic property which would induce a trancelike state of the mind. With the herbs, Kali the Destroyer was synthesizing a biological compound which was among the Goa'uld called Nish'ta, a drug that would infect all body tissue, including the brain, making the mind extremely pliable. Once an individual was exposed to it, they would become instantly susceptible to the power behind the Nish'ta – in this case: to Kali the Destroyer and the religion of the Thuggee.  
Usually the substance was released in a gaseous form to be inhaled, but Kali was inspired by a similar drug used by another system lord: the blood of Sokar. Sokar used the drug to give hallucinations to prisoners he sought to interrogate, but Kali sought to convert people all together. That's why she called the drink: The blood of Kali.

Once the first batch of the drug was finished, Kali sent her Jaffa to bring in a 'volunteer' to drink it. The Jaffa came back with a man Mola Ram had noticed earlier being one who would most likely renounce Kali and seek forgiveness from a more benevolent god. A perfect specimen to use as a guinea pig. The struggling man was tied to a malformed statue in the middle of the room.  
"There's no need for that racket," Kali told the man. "I'm just going to offer you a drink, then you are free to go."  
"I will not accept anything from you!" the man screamed in Hindi. "I renounce you! In the name of Krishna, I demand that you let me go!"  
"Once you've had a taste of this, you will reconsider." Kali came forward with a mug filled with the red substance.  
"Cow's blood?! You want me to drink the blood of a sacred animal?! You're _mad!_ You can't make me! I won't do it! I refuse!"  
"This is getting tiresome," Kali growled and extended one of her left-sided hands above the head of the Indian. The palm glowed from the armband, shooting the energy into the man's forehead, and made him docile. "Pry his mouth open!" she commanded her Jaffa.

The first Prime Kru'ul grabbed hold on the man's nose and jaw and forced his mouth open. Kali poured the blood inside and forced the Indian to swallow it. The man chocked and looked very sick. Then he began to shiver. His muscles were going into spasms which threw his body from side to side and he screamed. Every muscle in his body went into contractions, which made his tongue stick out of his mouth – and yet he didn't look so afraid any more. He was in fact laughing, rolling his eyes in madness. And the he suddenly stopped moving. He slumped in his bounds, going silent.  
"He's dead, my lord," Kru'ul announced.  
"Hmm, not properly balanced yet, then…" Kali muttered. "The poisonous herbs have obviously caused his pharynx to swell and block his airway – he has suffocated. I'm going to have to dilute it a bit…"  
As Kali resumed her experiment, she continued to talk. "Also it might be a good idea to not let the finished blood remain in a copper vat. The metal will spoil it. It preferably need to ferment in a leather bag to keep its full potential effects…" Kali looked back at the dead man, took in the convulsed face with the tip of the tongue sticking out of his mouth and began to glee as an inspiration hit her.  
"Cut off the head! Seal the throat and mount it on a base. That skull will make an excellent pitcher!" To the other Jaffa, Tra'ol and Be'lem, the whole idea sounded quite morbid, but none of them said anything. Mola Ram was also quite impassive about it.

* * *

After a few more tests, Kali the Destroyer had perfected the drug – and through the day that followed, the Goa'uld had begun the conversion process of the prisoners in the cave, making them more obedient and loyal. During that time, Mola Ram learned how to make the blood of Kali by himself and he took pleasure in feeding the subjects with it from the new 'pitcher'. He enjoyed watching the revolting faces the prisoners made as they saw the severed human head which the High priest tipped over above theirs, making the blood to pour out from the fixed grin with the protruding tongue, which served as a sluice for the vile liquid, pouring it into the prisoners' mouths. The painful convulsions afterwards were also to his liking.  
They had only gone half-through the prisoners though before reports came in that the brotherhood of Shiva had arrived at Pankot Palace and was in the very moment looking for ways into the caves. The demon goddess was however not the slightest bothered by the news – it appeared that she had expected it to go this way. She now headed to the main cave where the prisoners not yet converted by the Nish'ta blood remained under guard. Kamala Khan was among them.

"Well, Khan," Kali addressed the former leader of the Thuggee. "You're the one who insisted that these peasants were worthy applicants to my cause. The time has come for you to prove it!"  
Kamala Khan said nothing. He just waited for the demon to make her point.  
"I think you'd be interested to know that the brotherhood has arrived and is right now looking for a way down here."  
"They'll kill us all!" a former worshipper wailed. The others looked convinced of that as well.  
"Yes, they will," Kali concurred. "…if you'll allow them to _do_ so! _You're_ the one who led these people here, Khan, promising them fortune and glory if they agreed to serve me… now it is up to _you_ to save them! _You_ will lead the first line of defense against the brotherhood, using the peasants you got here at your disposal! You will get weapons to defend yourselves. Show me that these people you've recruited are worthy subjects and I will accept the survivors. Fail and you will die by the brotherhood's hands."  
"We're too few to stand against them!" Kamala objected. "I… I need more men!"  
"You got what you need!" Kali scoffed. "That's why you chose these people, did you not? Then _use_ them!" Kali turned her back to the prisoners and instead gave instructions to her Jaffa. "Give them each a sword and then stay out of sight when the intruders get down here. But keep an eye on them! If any of them tries to run before the brotherhood gets here, _kill_ the coward!" The Jaffa servant bowed in compliance.

Kali the Destroyer gathered the rest of her men together with Mola Ram. "We will remain out of sight, on the overhead ledges. From there we will observe. We will not make our presence known to our adversary until I say it is time. And Kru'ul… once I give the signal for you to move in, I want Zat'N'ktels only. One shot per subject, not two."  
"One, my lord?" Kru'ul asked in surprise. "You don't want them dead?"  
Kali flashed her eyes against her first prime in annoyance, telling him that way that as his god, she had no need to explain her commands. Kru'ul bowed and went to carry out the orders. Shortly afterwards, the cave appeared to be deserted, save for the unfortunate souls in the middle of the rocky floor assigned to defend the perimeter. The waiting was excruciating.  
"If we try to fend of the brotherhood of Shiva instead of surrendering, we're doomed," one muttered melancholy.  
"But if we try to surrender to them, then the god Kali will doom us!" another replied.  
"Face it: we're doomed," a third one said.  
"We should never have opposed the gods!" someone whined.  
"Quiet," Kamala demanded. "There may yet be a way to survive this."  
"How? It's because of _you_ we're in this mess! You talked us into renouncing Krishna!"

Kamala Khan could see that the people under his 'command' were looking at him with resentment. He began to wonder who would kill him first. His fellow prisoners might just do it before the intruders arrived.  
The decision was taken out of their hands. From the connecting tunnels a new bunch of people entered. They were dressed in white tunics with red trims and matching red-colored turbans – and when they saw the Thuggee in the middle of the cave waiting for them, the members of the brotherhood raised their hands which held tightly on to a sword in each, and they cried out as they charged: "For Shiva!"  
An army of a hundred people swarmed into the cavern. The Thuggee tried they best they could, but to no avail. They were instantly overpowered by the army of Shiva and over half of them was cut down immediately, their guts spilling out on the floor of the cave from the cut-up torsos. The remaining were instantly surrounded and subdued.  
"Spare us! We beg of you!" the survivors cried in Hindi. They were poked with the tip of the swords, making them whine even more.

" _This_ is the terrible cult of the Thuggee?" A new man approached them. He was long past his middle-ages, but his eyes sparkled with a fierce fire. When he spoke, you could tell that the words were spoken with wisdom and held the power of respect. He was the guru Levar Zane, the man who had sworn to carry the teachings of Shiva and oppose all evil. Behind him there was another, one who towered over them all. This was the legendary Roach, a giant of a man, muscular and all together burly. He was the guru Levar Zane's closest apprentice and friend, the one he trusted with his life. The Thuggee prisoners cringed as they saw him, covering under his reproachful stare from his bearded face. Roach's hate for the evil cults was well known, as many of his ancestors had fallen victim to those, either as slaves or for sacrificial rituals. Hadn't the guru held him back, he would without blinking strangle them all.

The guru walked up to the survivors. "Kamala Khan," he said as he spied the former leader of the Thuggee who had miraculously survived. "You're the main fish, you being the one who reportedly re-organized the Thuggee cult after they were slaughtered by the British a century ago… but something is amiss here. Why are you sitting here amongst these men? These people couldn't put up much of resistance, they were deliberately placed here like lambs in a slaughter pen, waiting to be killed." The guru looked around. "It's a trap! You've been overthrown and used as bait! Someone else is in control here!"  
The chamber was suddenly filled with the sound of somebody clapping hands. "I salute you, Levar Zane!" The voice was guttural and sounded strangely distorted. As the brotherhood of Shiva looked over towards the source of the voice, a being stepped out from the shadows on a ledge above them, but not all the way out.  
"Your reputation wasn't exaggerated," the voice said again. "You figured it out almost immediately. You failed on one point though… didn't you think coming in here wasn't a little too easy?"  
"Who are you?" Levar Zane called.  
The concealed figured stepped fully out into the light, presenting her full presence. As she spread her six arms, a collective gasp escaped the intruders. "Bow down and tremble before the might of Kali!"

"Is this a trick? Sorcery?" someone said.  
"Six arms! And the appearance… could it really be…?"  
One member of the brotherhood reacted more strongly than anyone else. "You're really Kali?" Roach the giant roared. " _Demon!_ You're the one spreading evil! I'll kill you!"  
The guru placed a hand of caution on the giant's shoulder. "Wait, my friend. For all we know, that might just be a charlatan…"  
But for once the giant wasn't going to listen to his mentor. "Fake or not, the wretch has taken on the appearance of the malevolent god Kali, the embodiment of evil! By crushing that wretch, I will crush the Thuggee! Come on down, you coward! Face me!"  
Kali the Destroyer smiled. "Such ferocity in that one. Intriguing."  
The demon hadn't made a move, and that enraged the giant even further. "You won't come down?! Then I shall strike you down where you stand!" Roach grabbed on to a rifle which one of his fellow members of the brotherhood was carrying. He took aim at the demon and fired. Kali was prepared however. She slapped her hand onto a device wrapped around one of her wrists and suddenly an orange-shimmering force-field erected around the unas. The bullets Roach fired at her all bounced off the shield, leaving the Goa'uld unharmed.  
"She must be genuine," someone said in a reluctant awe. "Only a true god can withstand bullets!"

All furious now, Roach threw the weapon away. "Suit yourself, demon! I'll come up there myself then and kill you with my bare hands!"  
"That is, if you can get to me!" Kali mocked the giant. "You were right about this being a trap, Levar Zane. Now as I got you all in one spot, I will now send out to you my _true_ followers!"  
As on cue, another bunch of Thuggee now streamed in to the cavern, led by Chattar Lal. These were not like the cowards left to Kamala Khan – these were the ones that had been forced to drink the blood of Kali, and their loyalty to their god quenched their fear for their own lives. They attacked with ferocity and determination… and with a lust for blood. "Jai ma Kali!" they all screamed as they charged. Chattar Lal was the only one among them who had not been drinking the blood, but he attacked with the same fury as the rest of them.  
Unlike with the first 'line of defense', the brotherhood of Shiva now found themselves having to fight against an army of maniacs. They could see it in the eyes of their enemy: those shone with a glint of madness – they were inebriated with a dark force which gave them an uncontrollable bloodlust. The cavern turned into a battlefield of blood and gore as warriors on both sides were cut down by swords, but neither would relent in any way. The only time someone of the Thuggee would express fear was when Roach the giant got hold on them, slamming them to the ground and showed his thumbs into the eye-sockets of his victims, effectively crushing their skulls in the process.

But despite the blood of Kali fueling their systems, the Thuggee soon became overpowered. The brotherhood of Shiva was twice the number in manpower as they were, and they were all trained swordsmen. The Thuggee fell one by one, their numbers diminishing by the seconds passing while the brotherhood fought on without tiring. In their eyes, victory was already theirs.  
Roach knew that his brothers could handle the rest of the pigs – he was going after the main quarry. Finding his way up the cliffs of the cave, he reached the level were the wretched god Kali was standing, watching the battle impassively. From time to time, one of the brotherhood was attempting to take a shot at the demon again, trying to catch her unawares, but each time the bullet was deflected by her personal shield. Roach was fine with that – he longed to wrap his massive hands around Kali's skull and crunch it.  
"Kali!" he called out, attracting the other's attention. "Now you die!" With that promise, he rushed forward. The demon made no move at all.

Roach never made it to the Goa'uld. From the shadows a bolt of blue lightning shot out and hit the giant squarely on the chest. Roach remained immobile on the spot for a moment, trying to summon the strength to move his legs further – but then he dropped. The first Prime Kru'ul stepped out, holding a device in his hand that was roughly shaped like a Z.  
"I have never seen a tauri being so strong," Kru'ul said. "Usually they drop at once."  
"Yes," Kali admitted. "Quite a formidable warrior." Kru'ul stepped out to stand beside his god. They were joined by Mola Ram, and together they watched the onslaught that was going on beneath them.  
"The intruders are almost through with the worshippers," Kru'ul observed.  
"The fools lasted less time than I had expected," Kali sighed. "Another entertainment too brief to fully appreciate." Kali called for a standstill of the fighting. Amazingly, both sides complied.  
"Brotherhood of Shiva!" Kali called above the remaining noise of clanging swords and dying men. "You have fought gallantly! Worthy of recognition in the eyes of gods… even for the worthless wretch Shiva which you so foolishly worship. But now it is finished." She paused and looked all about, attracting the gaze of all still standing warriors. "Surrender… and your lives will be spared."

The guru Levar Zane chuckled. "Perhaps you failed to notice that you're not exactly in a position to bargain for our surrender! Unless my eyes deceive me, we outnumber you greatly! Your worshippers have fallen, and they were not very good soldiers to begin with! Shiva is with us today, having granted us a great victory! It is not we who are to surrender, it is you! And if Shiva finds it in his heart to be benevolent, perhaps you might even survive this!"  
Kali snorted. "Shiva is _dead,_ Levar Zane! I killed him! Your victory is only by the result of my master plan. You will find out now that you never had a chance. You were doomed the moment you came in here!" Kali made a signal. "Now, Kru'ul."  
" _Jaffa!"_ Kru'ul shouted. And out from concealed corners, Kali's main force stepped out into the open, each carrying a Z-shaped weapon.  
"Shel nok Zat'N'ktel! _Kree!"_ As per orders, each of the Jaffa activated their weapons and blasted away at the brotherhood of Shiva. From the weapons came an electric high-pitched whine, and a bolt of blue-white lightning struck on the unprepared bodies below. The brotherhood may have the greater numbers, but against outer-space technology, they had no chance at all. They all dropped like flies upon hit. One shot from the Zat'N'ktel's rendered them unconscious – two shots were lethal. Some of the soldiers did take two shots and died as per result. The orders were to take them alive, but some losses were acceptable.

No one saw how Roach the giant regained consciousness and got back on his feet. Driven by his rage and hate for the evil gods, he stumbled over to an unsuspecting Jaffa and grabbed him from behind. With a tug of his powerful arms, Roach snapped the other's neck. The Jaffa didn't die quietly. He had just enough time to scream before he was killed, attracting the attention of the first prime. It was hard for him to comprehend how the giant could still be standing, but that was easy to take care of.  
" _No!_ " Kali objected as Kru'ul hit the giant with another burst of the Zat'N'ktel. This time the giant dropped immediately. "Fool! I told you I wanted them alive!" Kali roared.  
"He was a threat to you, my lord," Kru'ul tried to explain.  
"My safety has never been in question around these people," Kali snarled. "No mortal can kill a god!"  
Realizing that he was in for some serious punishment for disobeying Kali, Kru'ul went over to the fallen body hoping against hope that the giant wasn't dead. It turned out luck was with him.  
"My lord Kali, this is amazing! He's still alive! He is stronger than we thought!"  
"How fortunate for you!" Kali said. "Disobey me again and I will remove your Prim'ta!"

No one of the brotherhood was left standing, except for the guru Levar Zane. Chattar Lal stepped up, relieved him of his sword and began to tie his hands. The guru did not resist. He knew that he had lost and that his fate was now in the hands of the gods.  
Amongst the few remaining standing bodies of the Thuggee, Kamala Khan had also somehow survived. He looked around the battlefield with a distressed expression. "What have you done?" he exclaimed. "They're all dead!"  
"They're not dead," Be'lem said as he put bounds on one of the fallen bodies. "They're only incapacitated. Why do you care? They're your enemy, are they not?"  
"I'm not talking about them!" Khan raged. "The worshippers! The people I recruited! They've been slaughtered!"  
"Indeed!" Kali the Destroyer said. "That was the idea. I have no need for peasants who are too feeble to do some real fighting for me, so I got rid of them!"  
"But they served you! They would have been loyal had they been given the chance. Now who is going to worship you?"

"You're as shortsighted as always, Kamala Khan. I've got my new worshippers right here – the kind that I need. The kind that can fight!"  
Levar Zane laughed. "You think you can turn my people to worship you? I've been training them since they were young. Their faith in Shiva is absolute! They'll die before converting to you!"  
Kali laughed back at the guru. "You don't believe me? You will find that these people will become true believers. Bring the big one here!"  
Despite the Goa'uld-enhanced strength the Jaffa got from their symbiotes, it took three men to carry the limb form of Roach the giant before kali. He was groaning, already overcoming the stun-effects of the Goa'uld weapons.  
"Mola Ram. Come forward," Kali motioned to the high priest. Ram came forth, carrying the severed head which contained the blood of Kali. He kneeled beside the giant's head, tipping the skull in his hands and poured the liquid into the giant's mouth. Roach gagged, but as he wasn't fully conscious, he automatically swallowed to clear his air-way.  
"What are you doing?" the guru objected.  
"Making him into a believer," Kali said.  
"Your magic won't work on him! He hates evil gods with all his soul! He can never be turned!"  
"Wait and see."

Roach's eyes flew open and he gasped as he felt his insides being affected. He gurgled and went into convulsions. Then he began to scream as he twisted and turned on the floor.  
"Roach! Fight it, my friend! You're too strong for their poisons!"  
After a while the giant slumped, lying panting on the floor. Suddenly he stiffened, his eyes flying open again, staring wildly into the air. Slowly he began to rise, standing at his full height, facing both his mentor and kali the Destroyer.  
"They could never beat you, my friend," the guru said, smiling. "Now's your chance: kill the monster, in the name of Shiva!" Roach turned slowly to Kali.  
"Tell me, my friend," Kali said. "Who is your true god?"  
There was a pause, as the giant stood staring. And then he smiled… and got down on his knees. "Jai ma Kali," he said to the guru's great shock. "I live only to serve you. I will obey your every wish."  
"Welcome to my service, Roach. My first command is that you will assist Mola Ram in converting every one of your former brothers to my cause."  
"It will be my pleasure, O mighty Kali."

"Roach!" Levar Zane called out. "What are you doing? You have her within your grasp. You only need to snap her neck! Kill her in the name of Shi…" The guru was suddenly silenced by a hand slamming into his face, delivered by none other than his star pupil. Levar Zane had always been like a father to Roach – he would never do such a thing. But it appeared that whatever magic the Thuggee had used on him, it had successfully consumed him! For the first time the guru was overwhelmed with a complete sense of hopelessness, a feeling which increased for each member of the brotherhood that was forced to drink the blood and turning into what they hated the most. It appeared that what the demon had said was true: Shiva was dead! There would be no help for them. There never had been.


	6. The power of the stones

Author's notes: I'd like to remind everybody that all quotes in Hindi are all taken from sources as they are written from both the site IMDB and from the novel of the movie written by James Khan. Any inconsistences that you may find is therefore not my doing.

* * *

Mola Ram had become confident of a bright future for the Thuggee. Thanks to the goddess Kali and her troopers, the cult had become stronger than they had ever been for the past century after the British had nearly destroyed them. Not only had one of their greatest enemies in the form of the brotherhood of Shiva been vanquished, but their number had been incorporated to the Thuggee, thanks to the special blood the god had provided. He watched his new followers with pleasure. The disgusting white garbs of the former brotherhood had all been re-dyed into a more fitting color. The tunics were now all blood-red and the turbans dark, almost black. The greatest victorious example to watch was Roach the giant, the new chief guard of the Thuggee. The once most feared enemy to the cult was now their most powerful ally.

It was a relief to be rid of the weak fools Kamala Khan had first recruited. Those would never have been able to bring glory to the cult. Now their numbers had strengthened, and the new followers were skilled swordsmen – a valuable addition which undoubtedly would prove useful in the future. The few of the original worshippers that had survived had all been given the blood of Kali now, with two exceptions: Chattar Lal had not been given the blood, and that was because he didn't need it. His loyalty and devotion to the Thuggee had already been proven.  
Kamala Khan had not been given the blood either. He was sentenced to walk around with a clear head so that he could see with his own eyes how the cult had progressed, no thanks to him. Kamala had been labeled as a traitor: not for betrayal, but because he had been declared guilty of holding the cult back. Khan had been stripped of his title and all privileges – he was now the lowest ranked of everybody in the temple. His punishment was to watch how the cult went on without him as a leader.

Mola Ram hardly spared his former co-founder a single thought, their past friendship meaning nothing to him. The only thing that mattered was the continued growth of the cult, to increase its strength. He was convinced that the god Kali had more plans in mind to do just that, but Ram felt it necessary to repay her for what she was doing, to offer her their gratification. The next full moon was coming up – a tribute needed to be paid and a sacrifice had to be made! But would the altar be finished in time for a ceremony?  
Curiosity and impatience always compelled Mola Ram to return to the altar and watch the process of the refurbishment. A giant wheel had been added to the left far side of the center of the platform, half buried underneath the floor. Countless meters of chains were coiled around the double set of grooves in the hub, which leapt through furrows hidden under the stone-plates all the way to the statue of Kali. The magnificent sculpture had been returned to its place – whatever those Jaffa engineers had done to it, it appeared that it had come out of it relatively untainted. He took pleasure in the new ornaments that had been added to the statue. Around the waist, the statue had been given a loincloth, all made of severed human arms, painted with a special coat of vax so that they would be kept preserved and not putrefy. The statue had also gotten a veil, a necklace made of human skulls stripped of all flesh draped over her chest. These were the remains of those that had recently fallen in combat in the cave. The god Kali had a real taste for karma. Now in death, the first worshippers ended up serving Kali anyway, in a different way then what they originally had in mind.

Speaking of Kali, the demon goddess dropped in again through the rings as she had been back up in her ship. She didn't come down alone. There was a metallic contraption behind her – a rectangular flat iron frame. It looked like a cage to Mola Ram.  
"You serve me well by being here, Mola Ram," Kali said in her distorted voice. "It saves me the time of not having to summon and wait for you."  
"I live to serve you, O mighty Kali," the high priest replied, bowing.  
Kali motioned over two of the Jaffa engineers working on the altar. "There's the rack," she said, pointing behind her. "You know what to do with it!"  
"You have something special in mind for that iron cage, O mighty Kali?" Ram asked curiously.  
"Not iron," Kali said. "Naqahdah! The raw unrefined type I had stashed on my ship. No ordinary metal of your world would survive the purpose I had it made for. Now walk with me!"  
Mola Ram threw a last look at the cage before following the demon. 'Naqahdah'? He had never heard the word before, and he knew that he would never remember it. To him it would always be an iron rack. The Goa'uld designations were all gibberish to him, he had already forgotten the name of those electrical blasters the Jaffa had used. There was only one name he still remembered.

"The Nish'ta has worked true wonder, O mighty Kali," Ram said. "None has shown any kind of rejection – they are all completely obedient to you despite that they have formerly served another."  
"I expected nothing else," Kali said without looking at the priest. "Still, there's something very important about it that I have not yet told you: the Nish'ta has one major flaw…  
"An electrical shock will render the Nish'ta ineffective, freeing them from the spell. While you don't have any electrical equipment here, I have seen the effects being reversed by fire as well, as the trauma of being burned can in some cases become similar to an electrical shock which is generated by the body's own electrical field. And once they've become free, they will forever be immune to the Nish'ta! So be wary of the fires you got going in these caves – and never ever let your enemies learn of this weakness!"  
"Never, my lord. The secret will be mine alone."  
"See that it will. Not even my Jaffa know this. It is best never spoken of again." The demon and the servant walked on in silence until they reached the central cavern. Around them the converted worshippers worked, having turned the cave into a mine. They have begun digging for the two Sankara stones that were hidden somewhere in the collapsed catacombs. If they could find those and add them to the two they already had, then their power would increase exponentially. Kali wasn't interested in the progress of the dig however – she had come for something else.

There was a small holding cell against one of the walls of the cave. It currently held one occupant. Kali and Mola Ram stopped before it and peered in through the bars.  
"Have you come to gloat in my defeat?" the guru Levar Zane asked bitterly.  
"Have you contemplated on how it was that you were defeated?" Kali shot back. "Have you taken heed to my words that Shiva is dead and that you have spent your life dedicated to a false god? Felt any repentances lately?"  
"The only repentance I feel is that I didn't allow Roach to try to kill you from the start!"  
"Do you think it would have made any difference? You saw my power! How else do you think you were defeated?"  
"What do you want from me?" the guru demanded.  
"Acknowledge me!" Kali hissed. "Renounce Shiva and admit my superiority as the true and more powerful god!" This was the megalomaniac part of the Goa'uld talking. They thrived on devotion and the need to be worshipped. The more souls a Goa'uld could gather to serve them, the more powerful they would become. It would be a tremendous victory for Kali if she could convince a servant of another deity to recognize her superiority. "Acknowledge me or die!"

Levar Zane laughed. "You're asking me to renounce my 'false' god to serve another false one?"  
The priest and the demon were both irritated by those words, but it was Mola Ram who spoke his thoughts. "Watch your tongue, vermin, or I'll have it cut out from you!"  
"Your threats mean nothing to me, priest."  
"You have chosen death, then," Kali concluded. "I'll be honest with you: your execution will be far from pleasant, but it will have a purpose. It will be the message that I possess the omnipotent power of a true god and only by serving me will my followers live! I will be the most powerful god of all!"  
"You're mad," the guru scoffed. "Your arrogance will be your downfall as the false god you are!"  
Kali sent a pulse of a force-blast from one of her left armbands through the bars which knocked the prisoner backwards, slamming him into the opposite side of the cell. "You still persist in thinking that I am not a true god?" she snarled.  
Despite his pain, the guru smiled. "I do not think: I _know!_ I have looked upon your soul, Kali – there isn't one, but two entities within that creature whose kind I have never seen before. The true owner of the body is suppressed by a being who is a breed of pure evil… the same kind of evil I sense from the Jaffa, strangely enough from their guts. But not from the most of them.  
"I don't know what kind of a being you are, Kali, but I do know that although your 'power' is unnatural, it is still not _supernatural!_ You're nothing but slavers, and that will never last forever! The time will come when your own slaves will turn against you, and you will fall! Heed _my_ words now, Kali – the time of the false gods will come to an end! It is inevitable!"

"You know nothing, Levar Zane!" Kali growled. "But know this: upon the next full moon which is the night after tomorrow, you will die! You will be sacrificed in my name, and your own students will all witness your execution, completing their conversion. That will mark the final end of the Tok'ra Shiva, and that will be the beginning of the reign of Kali the Destroyer! _Me!"_ And with that, Kali walked away from the cell with Mola Ram in tow.  
Kali was furious. She hadn't showed it, but Levar Zane's words had shaken her up. How had he figured out the true nature of the Goa'ulds? In reality, Kali was nothing more than a snakelike symbiote parasite whom had taken the body of an Unas as a host. Like the guru had said, there was nothing supernatural about it, they had just made the process into a godliness to quench any possible threat to them. The Goa'uld had invoked that religion into the Jaffa and then made them dependent on carrying Goa'uld larvae to act as their immune system to make them obedient. Without the Jaffa to serve as incubators for the Goa'uld, their power would in time diminish and die.

Kali and Mola Ram were once again back at the priest's chambers. Kali's Lo'taur was not present as she was currently up in the Ha'tak vessel in orbit above India. It added to Kali's angered state of mind that her personal slave was not there to offer the demon the special anger-depraving drink she needed right now – she would have to fetch it herself, to her annoyance. Like all Goa'ulds, she was too used of being served.  
Kali found the copper pitcher on the niche and poured the whole content down her throat, gulping loudly as she swallowed. The drink did what it was meant to do, soothing her primordial anger, and allowing her to think straight again. The very idea of a possible Jaffa uprising and revolt against their masters – it was such a ludicrous thought that it was almost laughable! The Jaffa would only doom themselves in the process if they renounced the Goa'uld… that was unthinkable! Kali should never have let herself be manipulated by the guru like that. Well, no harm done. And the guru would die for his insolence.

Kali threw the pitcher away and turned to the high priest. "Tell me, Mola Ram, do you believe in my power?"  
"Yours is the superior, my liege," Ram replied without doubt.  
"And do you believe in my rule? That I should dominate the world as your queen?"  
"As our goddess, O mighty Kali. No one else is worthy of that position."  
"And are you willing to assist me in seizing that position?"  
"I will do anything that you ask of me, my liege."  
"Are you even willing to undergo some changes for me, Mola Ram?"  
"What kind of changes do you seek of me, O mighty Kali?"  
"Of everyone I have encountered in this temple upon my return, you are the one who has proven to my most loyal subject… for that I have considered of bestowing you a power…"  
Mola Ram felt exhilaration rise up within him.  
"That power will fortify your position as the high priest of the Thuggee… you will be feared and powerful. I can make you immune to all maladies and grant you immortality. In return I request your eternal allegiance to me. You will serve me forever and never deviate from the path of giving me absolute rule. You will kill for me and spread my name through pain and suffering. Are you willing to do this, Mola Ram?"  
The high priest dropped down on hi knees. "I swore you my absolute loyalty when I saw a sacrifice in your name for the first time in my youth. By my blood, I swear it to you a second time! Grant me the power, O mighty Kali Ma! Make me yours! Kali Ma, shakthi deh!" [Mother Kali, give me power!]

Kali walked back to the niche, where the chest containing the two Sankara stones still rested. She opened the lid and picked the glowing sacred rocks up.  
"Hold out your hands, Mola Ram." The priest complied. The demon placed the rocks in each of his outstretched hands, and she then folded her own around his, squeezing the rocks into his palms, making it impossible for him to drop them.  
"These lantian stones draws power from subspace, accumulating them within," Kali said. Mola Ram didn't understand what she was saying, but he took her word for it. Kali then began to chant: "Shive ke vishwas kate ho."  
Ram looked as his god in confusion of the chant. It sounded like she was reciting a warning of a kind.  
"It's not the meaning of the words that is of importance," Kali said, reading the other's face. "It's the sounds! The vibrational tones from the larynx acts like an auditory combination lock, a code word telling the stones to unchain the energy they hold within, discharging the power! The energy just need somewhere to go, or the stones will start to burn…"  
Mola Ram was starting to grow uncomfortable. What is it he had just agreed to do? "Shive ke vishwas kate ho," Kali started to chant again. Meanwhile she was using her own Naqahdah enhanced ability to direct the power that was about to be released to the way she intended it to go. "Shive ke vishwas kate ho. _Shive ke vishwas kate ho!"_

Mola Ram then howled in pain as he felt a burning power course through his arms where it spread throughout his whole body. Instinctively he tried to let go of the stones, but Kali held them firmly in place in his palms. Mola Ram felt like his whole body was on fire as the energy coursed through him, attaching itself into his cells, charging them with power. But as sudden as it had started, the pain diminished as the stones were drained of its energies, and Kali let go. Ram fell to the floor, panting.  
Kali observed the stones: they didn't glow as brightly now as the energy had dispersed, but soon they will have replenished themselves. She put them back in the chest, closing the lid.  
The priest attempted to get back up. He shivered and tried to focus on his hands. He had expected them to be ruined, burned by the energies, but they were still relatively unharmed. His palms were only slightly reddish, an engram left from the stones that would soon disappear.

"Well, Mola Ram, feel any different?" Kali asked.  
To Ram's surprise, he did. As the shivering went away, he was left with a sense of feeling more alive. It was like the energy of the Sankara stones had rejuvenated him – not in appearance, but in vitality. The strangest feeling he was sensing was in his fingertips, a weird tingling sensation as if his fingers were charged with a raw power.  
"You are now connected to the stones," Kali told him. "As long as you stay in vicinity of them, they will keep your new power at its peak. And once we find the other three stones, your power will increase with them and finally become permanent."  
"Am I now…immortal?"  
"Perhaps… if you can prove to me that you are worthy of the power."  
"How can I?" Ram asked eagerly.  
"You'll get your chance to do so… tomorrow night."

* * *

The subterranean cathedral became alive with activity the night the moon stood full in the sky. The new worshippers, all induced in the black sleep of Kali poured in from the connecting tunnels and began to fill up the temple of death. Ritual music resonated through the cavern, mixing with the droning winds which ventilated out the noxious fumes that came from the bottom of the crevice that divided the altar from the rest of the cave. The worshippers chanted along with the music, answering to its hypnotic tunes: "Jai ma Kali, jai ma Kali…"  
There was only one who didn't chant along with the rest of them. Kamala Khan was not in the mood, nor would he ever be. He was betrayed, insulted, and disgraced. Demoted and stripped of all privileges that came with being a leader of the cult, he had been expelled from the altar and was to stand among the other minions of the Thuggee. He felt no connection to the people around him. These were not the people he had recruited. Worse, they were former enemies to the cult as they used to be member of the brotherhood of Shiva. In Khan's eyes, they were still the opposers, outcasts who were not to be trusted. But his words and opinions carried no weight anymore.

Mola Ram appeared on the altar from behind the statue, once again carrying the buffalo-horned head-dress on his scalp. To Kamala's displeasure, he spied the upstart Chattar Lal among the priests on the other side of the crevice. It only added to the insult that he was allowed to be present on the altar and Khan was not.  
Mola Ram began to speak to the worshippers, initiating the ritual with the story of the Thuggee religion – the story Kamala used to tell them. When the priest was finished, he walked away from the spot that made the center of the altar, and then the rings concealed in the ceiling dropped down. Kali the Destroyer had arrived, together with three of her Jaffa who served as her guard. She spread her six arms and greeted the worshippers. They all dropped on their knees in unison, paying their respects to their god. Khan reluctantly did so as well, only so that he wouldn't attract attention to himself. He looked at her in anger, thinking dark thoughts. That vile creature had stolen his cult, and he was looking for a way to take it back for the purpose he had intended for it! He only needed to wait for the right moment.

The two Jaffa guards, Trao'l and Be'lem took position on both sides of the statue of Kali so they had a good overlook of the place. The First Prime Kru'ul stood beside the big wheel together with some of the lower priests.  
Now the Thuggee chief guard, Roach the giant came in, dragging along his former mentor Levar Zane. He was bare-chested, save for the veil that was draped over his neck. The guru fought in vain to try to get out of the giant's hold, but to no avail.  
"My children," kali addressed the spectators. "This is a new dawn for all of us. You are all here to witness the execution of the usurper Levar Zane whom has led you into the path of following a false god! Now as you are on the path of righteousness, you will with his death discard the remnants of the false teachings and take on the mantle of the true power, given to you by your true god; Kali!"  
"Jai ma Kali! Jai ma Kali!" they all said.  
Kali turned to the guru. "Do you still doubt my power?"  
"You foul creature!" Levar Zane screamed. "What have you done to my people?"  
"See for yourself," Kali suggested. "Don't you see how happy they are now as I have shown them the true nature of the gods. Their lives finally have a meaning."  
"You've bewitched them!" the guru growled. "You've turned them into mindless puppets!"  
"Nothing so crude, I assure you. I've only given them a new purpose. Why don't you take a moment to say goodbye to them now? There are some you really should get reacquainted with before your final journey. See up on that ledge?" Kali pointed up to an upper level above a catwalk where the wind-tunnels blew fresh air inside. Some flapping leathery carpets obscured the openings. The guru was startled as he realized that those were flayed human skins on display.

"Those are the two spies we discovered here, those that managed to fool the idiot Kamala Khan to admit them. They have lost a little weight, but perhaps you still recognize them?" Kali smiled wickedly at the guru. "And let's not forget those that lost their lives in the battle when you invaded this temple. Their skulls now have a place of honor upon my magnificent frame, don't you think?" Levar Zane was dismayed as he saw the skulls of some of his former students hanging as a necklace on the gruesome statue.  
"Well, enough sentiments," Kali finally said. "I think instead that you will find the new addition to the place to be of a particular interest."  
From the tireless outstretched arms of the statue, the Naqahdah basket was lowered down to ground level. Kru'ul, whom was there to instruct the priests how this was to be done in accordance to Kali, rotated the cage to stand up and he opened the front of the frame, readying it to admit the prisoner. Roach brought the guru forward and together they shackled the former leader of the brotherhood inside the rack, leaving him spread-eagled within the wafer-thin cage. The worshippers began to chant again. The sadist Kru'ul seemed to be enjoying this, but the other two Jaffa looked nervous. There was something foul going on here and they didn't like it.

Mola Ram knew that this was his que. He walked up to the shackled man, full of anticipation. He was so looking forward to this, to kill this man. He could feel the energies of the Sankara stones course through him, fueling his desires. It was like a need demanding to be satisfied. He drew his ceremonial knife, holding it in front of the victim. The guru was defiant, he wasn't going to give them the pleasure of his fear. A slit of his throat would give a moments pain, but it was one he could handle. His soul was prepared.  
"Hold your hand, Mola Ram," Kali then said. "You don't need that! You have the power in your hands now - use it!"  
Mola Ram re-sheathed his knife, thinking of what his god had said. The tingling in his fingers was strong, as if those told him that he had other means to do this now. He held up his hand in front of the victim, listening to his instincts. His hand shook, almost moving by itself down towards the guru's chest. He could almost see how the man's heart beat under his chest. Ram felt an overwhelming need to touch it, to feel his fear. Ram placed his hand above the spot… and pressed.

The power of the Sankara stones was that they could tap into the flow of the atoms and alter their functions on a molecular level. The lantian scientists main purpose was that they would use this to enhance and accelerate cellular divisions to alter the structures those atoms belonged to. The lantian guardian Sankara had offered those stones to Shiva to use them to combat evil, but the Tok'ra hadn't dared to use them as he feared that they would be misused. He had been correct in the assessment.  
The power of the stones was now within Mola Ram, and while he would never be able to alter an atomic structure to create new elements, he could certainly affect them – he simply pushed them aside! That was why he was now able with ease to shove his hand through skin, sinew and bones and reach into the guru's body. The agony was excruciating beyond comprehension as his nerve systems was severed in the process, combined with the feeling of the impossible intruding violation of his innermost spirit. It was as horrible as it was beyond all physical laws.

Mola Ram was deaf to the guru's screams – it wouldn't have bothered him anyway. His attention was simply focused on what he was doing, inching his hand deep inside the squirming body, reaching for the beating organ he longed to touch. He could feel his own endorphin levels rising, giving him a rush. Finally Mola Ram pulled his hand back out, together with the trophy he'd sought to claim. Both priest and victim were staring in astonishment at the piece of man-flesh that was in his grip. Madness overwhelmed them both: one of sheer terror, the other of exhilaration which turned into a maddening joy of what he had just achieved. Even though Levar Zane was frightened out of his wits now, he couldn't understand how he could still be alive as his living heart had been removed. It was because Mola Ram had left a residue of the energy within him which still connected him to the heart through subspace. And it was now the same subspace power that returned the atoms that had been pushed aside to its original positions – the hole in the chest where Mola Ram's hand had passed closed, healing him. It was a physiological science that was beyond comprehension for all present personnel - to them it was nothing else but magic. Mola Ram turned away from the guru, facing the crowd and lifted the still beating heart in the air to show them the power he possessed.

"AB, USKI JAN MERI MUTTI ME HAI!" [Now, his life is in my fist!] he called out. The crowd cheered. The demon god Kali looked as ravening mad as Mola Ram, grinning insanely to what she was seeing. The to Jaffa Trao'l and Be'lem didn't share in the joy. They watched in horror of what was happening. It was a good thing the first prime Kru'ul was busy with his own preparations so that he didn't see the pale faces of the two Jaffa. Kru'ul now closed the frame of the torture rack, sealing the guru in. He then motioned to the priest at the wheel to rise the cage a bit into the air. For a moment Levar Zane lay facing the roof, then Kru'ul reversed the cage's orientation by rotating it on the chains attached, leaving the victim suspended face-down. The floor underneath him parted, releasing a cloud of hot gas, revealing it to be a portal to the crevice which was a reservoir for the molten flowing lava. The guru wailed in horror, understanding what was going to happen. Kru'ul walked over to the wheel at the side of the altar. He wanted to personally send the man on his journey. There was a large lever beside the wheel which served as the brake. Kru'ul released it, allowing gravity to take hold - and the cage began to descend through the portal, lowering the unfortunate guru down to an extremely hot, boiling death.

The music and the chanting had gone up to a fast pacing tempo, and all the worshippers beat their hands in the air to the rhythm. They didn't care that it was their former mentor that was being sacrificed. The exhilaration of the ritual was making their own blood rushing through their veins, and that only increased the power of the Nish'ta. The black nightmare had taken over them completely.  
Mola Ram was lost in his rush as well. As the victim and the heart was still connected through subspace, the priest could feel the rising terror of the dying man in the beating organ, his own blood-levels rising with it. The heart's temperature was rising, indicating that it reacted the same way as it would still within the body. His eyes bulged and gleamed in the madness, and he could no longer hold it back. Mola Ram began to laugh manically.  
Kali the Destroyer was also having the time of her life. This was what she had sought from the beginning when she planned to offer her fleet to Sokar in exchange for becoming master of the hell-moon Netu. Eternal damnation through pain and suffering: that was what Kali wanted, and right now she drank it in through the pain that was inflicted on the condemned man – pain and fear that was radiated through the beating heart in the hand of the high priest. And during that time, the worshippers were chanting her praise, filling her Goa'uld desire for power and devotion. The heart was beginning to smoke.

 _This was no way for any man to die!_ A slit of the throat he could've handled, but not this! Not this slow, extensive, horrible death by being cooked alive in a hellish oven! Levar Zane was frightened beyond terror as he saw the fiery lava continuously rise to meet him. The noxious fumes had already seared his lungs, making it hard to scream. The intense light was burning the retinas in his eyes, and the extreme heat was scalding his skin, burning it, frying it. He begged to Shiva for an immediate death, to end this torture.  
Pockets of gas within the molten ore floated up and exploded as it was released, making the lava cascade up in the air like a geyser. One such geyser shot up close to the approaching cage and set the flesh within it on fire. That was what made the guru to mercifully pass out, the psyche liberating him from the pain and sparing him from the final agony as the metal basket broke through the surface of the lava and submerged together with its contents.

At the altar above, the beating heart in Mola Ram's hand had burst into flames which quickly turned into a miniature pyre, consuming the flesh completely. Mola Ram could feel the fire lick his fingers, but they didn't affect him the way it usually would've. The power of the Sankara Stones coursing though his veins prevented him to be damaged. Ram's exhilaration was now at its absolute peak as he continued to laugh like a madman while the organ burned to ashes until there was nothing left. The crowd cheered, all except for Kamala Khan who watched transfixed with horror. His state of mind was shared with the two Jaffa on the altar.  
The priest turned the wheel, pulling the cage back up. It came up through the portal in the floor glowing like a red-hot iron. Of Levar Zane there was no sign. The guru had been completely incinerated.  
The show was over, and everybody was recovering from their adrenaline rush. Kali walked over the center of the altar, to where the rings would accommodate her. Before she activated them, she turned to the priest.  
"You know, Mola Ram… I'm actually starting to think that you _are_ my son!" And then the rings transported her away.

The crowd began to disperse, emptying the cave. Mola Ram was left standing, savoring the words of praise Kali Ma had given him. But he too felt the need to vacate the area. He felt a sticky sensation of the insides of his robes that he needed to attend to. As a priest of the Thuggee, Mola Ram had no sexual desires, but this sacrifice had affected him the same way a climax of such an act would do.


	7. The Shol'vas

Kamala Khan walked through the caves in a regal posture, holding his head high and displaying a neutral expression. But in reality, he was nervous as he turned each corner – he no longer felt at home in the temple. The people occupying the underground complex were strangers, both as persons and of behavior. There was a dark shroud over the eyes of each one he passed, which was the result of the dark nightmare of the Nish'ta they had been forced to consume to become obedient to Kali – and each set of those eyes were looking at him coldly as he walked by. Each member of the Thuggee was a potential unpredictable killer, and Kamala was the last loose end among the fanatics. Khan no longer belonged there, even though he had been instrumental in re-building the cult. The temple of death had always been an evil place, but it had never posed any danger to him while he had been in control. That was no longer the case.

It was a relief for Khan to reach the priest's chambers and once again having avoided to get jumped. By orders of Kali, he was no longer allowed to enter the premises. But Kali was still on her magical wagon, or whatever the name was for the transport she had arrived in, and Khan figured – even hoped – the past friendship between him and Ram still meant something.  
As Kamala entered the chambers, he found Mola Ram sitting on a rock, staring at his hands as if spellbound. He was so obsessed with them that he didn't acknowledge the intruder.  
"Ram?" Khan tried to address him.  
"Did you see it?" the priest almost whispered. "Did you see what I did?"  
"Everybody saw, my friend," Kahn said somberly.  
"I _held_ it! I actually held his life _in my hand!"_  
"What did she _do_ to you?"  
"I have the power to rip a man's heart out with my bare hand," the priest rambled on without listening to the other's concern. His hands were shaking. "It was still beating! I could feel it… I could feel his fear through it as he was lowered to his death! I have _never_ felt anything like that before! And when it burst into flame… burning up in my hand… it was just… it was just…"

"We'll fix this," kamala promised. "We'll find a way to reverse whatever Kali did to you, so that you never have to…" But here Khan stopped talking as Mola Ram shot him an incredulous look.  
"Are you out of your mind?" Ram questioned him. "You think I am sitting here _whining?!"_ The priest stood up, facing the other. "Don't you understand what I am feeling right now? Never… _never_ has a sacrifice ever felt so _satisfying!_ "  
Kamala Khan took an involuntary step back as he saw the maddening glimmer in the priest's eyes.  
"It had all that I ever wanted: pain and fear on its highest peak! And I felt it _all!_ And I can't wait to _feel_ it again! It was so inebriating! I _need_ to feel it again! I want it! I want it all!"  
Mola Ram walked over to the shrine where the Sankara stones lay. "So far, I can only do it for a limited number of times until the power of the stones replenish me," the priest said with a disappointed tone. "But when we find the other stones, the power will increase, and I will be able to do it again… and _again!_ I can do one sacrifice _per night!"  
_ Ram's face broke out into a malicious grin. It was the same kind of grin he always wore when he was about to kill a sacrificial victim – only this one was much more exultant than it usually was.

"The last remnant of the usurper Shiva fell with the death of Levar Zane," the priest raved on, sounding almost maniacal. "Only the British in India stands in our way now, but with Kali Ma leading us, we will _crush_ them, and then we will vanquish all other Hindu religions as well together with their misguided servants! Then we will overrun the Muslims and force their Allah to bow to Kali! And then the Hebrew god will fall! And finally the Christian god will be cast down and forgotten… and then Kali Ma will rule the world! And I will stand by her side, giving her the sacrifices she requires to give her power! Each of the religious leaders as well as the leaders of the world shall be lowered down into the fire while I display their burning hearts to the people whom so foolishly followed them! Then they will see who has the true power! By Kali, it will be glorious!"

Kamala Khan listened to the words, and he grew more fearful by each syllable. By now he realized that he had totally misjudged Mola Ram's true nature. He had believed that Ram had just been a regular priest, carrying on the traditions of an otherwise brutal cult, which up until now had served Khan's purposes perfectly. But he had never been aware of the extravagant ambitions that had been lying dormant within the priest's fanatical belief. It had been awakened and strengthened by whatever Kali had done to him! Mola Ram may have been considered being a bad person before as he had slit the throats of carefully handpicked victims in the name of Kali, but now his ambitions had gone way beyond that – he had become as evil as evil gets! It was a fanatical stage that Kamala Khan could not handle. If he were to regain control of the cult, he had to do something radical. It would involve some risks, but he felt that he no longer had any alternative. He left the priest's chambers and went out to find the people he believed would give him the necessary means he required to overthrow Kali and take back the cult for the purpose he had originally intended.  
Mola Ram didn't watch him go. He had actually forgotten that Kamala had even been in there, as he once again became transfixed with his hands and lost himself in his dream of world domination under the rule of Kali.

* * *

The Jaffa Be'lem patrolled the grounds of the main cave, observing the work going on. The digging wasn't progressing as smoothly as it had been intended. The new recruits of the cult weren't as disciplined with mining as they were with their fighting skills. Another problem was that the rocks were sturdy, and the newly revealed passageways too narrow. They would need better equipment, and perhaps even thinner, smaller workers. But thankfully none of those problems fell under Be'lem's responsibility to solve. Lately he had been feeling more and more that he wanted nothing to do with what was going on in these caves, or on this world for that matter.  
He felt that they should never have come here. They had only been looking for a quick stop to evade the pursuing forces of Baal – they were supposed to be on their way as soon as the repairs to the Ha'tak vessel had been completed. Instead their god Kali had stumbled in on this gruesome tauri cult and found those weird ancient stones which she had become obsessed with, and now she was in a no hurry to leave.  
Not that he had been particularly enthusiastic about their original goal either. Be'lem had never felt that Kali's ambitions of joining forces with Sokar was such a good idea, a sentiment that he silently shared with many of his fellow Jaffa. But Kali was their god, so they had no choice but to submit to her plans. If only she hadn't been so extremely bloodthirsty and sadistic…

Be'lem had just passed a crack on the stone wall when he heard a noise he wasn't used to hear – it sounded like somebody was crying. As he peered inside, he was stunned by what he saw. It was his fellow Jaffa Tra'ol, hugging his knees and with shoulders shaking. In one of his hands, he was spasmodically clutching a Zat'N'ktel.  
"Tra'ol? What are you…? He began, before the other swung the weapon against him. Be'lem was concerned by this reaction. He would survive one blast, but in Tra'ol's state of disorder, there was a high risk that he would fire the thing two times, and that would kill him.  
"Get away from me!" Tra'ol screamed at him. "Don't come near me!"  
"Tra'ol, what's the matter with you?" Be'lem tried to get through to him. "If Kru'ul finds you like this, he will do terrible things to you!"  
"Yeah? You think he will skin me? Or maybe he'll put me in that _murder contraption_ up there and let that priest have his way with me?!"  
Be'lem believed he understood what was wrong with Tra'ol. He should have seen the connection, as he himself had reacted almost in the same way. "It was a little extreme, wasn't it?"  
Be'lem was collected, but that was not the case with Tra'ol. He broke down once more. "It was… it was the most… _horrible_ thing I ever saw _!_ " The Jaffa buried his face in his arms rested on his knees and he shook uncontrollably. "But Kali… she enjoyed every _bit_ of it! I saw it in her face! She's going to want to have it done again to some other… I just _know_ it! I can't… I can't _see that again!"_

"And I fear that Kali will make it a standard execution if she becomes ruler of Netu," Be'lem sighed. "If she'll present that torture method to Sokar, he will become overwhelmed and accept any proposition she'll request. He if anyone will appreciate such painful, merciless death."  
"They're crazy!" Tra'ol spat between his sobs. "Both of them!"  
"But she is our god," Be'lem pointed out.  
"Not mine!" Tra'ol growled. "A god is supposed to love and care for us! But a god so evil as Kali is can only be a _false_ god!"  
Be'lem was shocked by what the other was saying. " _Tra'ol!_ Such talk will give you the mark of a _Shol'va!_ " A shol'va was a traitor of the worst kind to the Goa'uld – it was label of complete dishonor, and to a Jaffa a status that was worse than death.  
"Between that and the gruesome executions, I rather be a Shol'va!" Tra'ol said assured. "The only other alternative is death – but how can you kill yourself with this?" He looked at the Zat'N'ktel in disappointment. "One shot will only render me unconscious before I can fire a second, and a staff weapon is too long to shoot myself with!"

"You really want to kill yourself?" Be'lem asked surprised.  
"You don't?" Tra'ol retorted. "I saw you! You were as disturbed by it as I! You don't want to see such an execution again any more than I do!"  
"No, but… what can I do about it? You don't stand up against a god!"  
" _False_ god!" Tra'ol snarled.  
"A god none the less!" Be'lem persisted. "A god whom we are dependent on, for the sake of our lives! Are you ready to throw it all away?"  
"If you are prepared to watch another sacrifice, then kill me now!" Tra'ol said. "I welcome it! I would be free of the vision from that ghastly ceremony that forever will haunt me – one which I can never get out of my head. I've made my choice, Be'lem – now you are going to have to make yours!"  
Be'lem was considering it. His sworn duty as a Jaffa and servant to Kali would be to kill Tra'ol for his doubts and weakness, but he wasn't sure if he could live with himself afterwards. How could he blame Tra'ol for feeling like this when he was feeling the exact same thing? Be'lem would do anything to not having to see the ceremony again – but to revolt against your god? It was unthinkable! It went against everything the Jaffa had been taught since childhood.

But then Be'lem came to think of his baby brother and sister. If Kali was to make these rituals a standard in her domain, wouldn't they be forced to watch it? Whose to say they wouldn't suffer the same trauma as Tra'ol and he now did? And if Kali went through with her plans to join forces with Sokar, then the ritual would be spread all over the galaxy. It was a horror Be'lem was not ready to live through – none should have to. Even if it was a dangerous path to tread, it appeared it was the only course of action to take, even if it meant costing him his life. He just didn't see how the two of them can make it happen.  
"Even if we do decide to plot against Kali, there's not much the two of us can do," he told Tra'ol solemnly. "We're only Jaffa, and she is a god - the only one capable of matching her power is another god. We're in Ra's domain, he might be able to stop Kali if we could make him aware of her presence here. But to tell him of Kali's intrusion into his system, we would need to use the mother ship's communications array from the Peltac, and that is a forbidden area when not in flight. It's also monitored, we would quickly be discovered. There just isn't a way for us to sneak out a message in secret."  
"Then perhaps I can offer a way!" a new voice intruded. The two Jaffa spun around, pointing their weapons at the newcomer.  
"Whoa, take it easy!" Kamala Khan said, holding up his hands to show them that he was unarmed. "I'm on your side here!"  
"What do you want?" Be'lem demanded.  
"The same as you: to stop Kali."

The Jaffa looked at each other in confusion. "Why would you want to do that? You're one of the founders of the Thuggee. You worship Kali!"  
"I'm not doing this for Kali," Khan replied. "I never did! The direction the cult has taken were never my true intentions when I rebuild it from the scraps they were! Kali's unexpected arrival has ruined everything I worked to build – I want it back!"  
Be'lem and Tra'ol were still not sure what to make of this development. "And how were you planning to do that?"  
"It pains me to say that I can't do it on my own," Kamala confessed. "That's why it is a perfect convenience that the two of you have had a change of heart!"  
"Don't talk about hearts!" Tra'ol snarled.  
"I understand you," Khan said. "I was as shocked as you."  
"That's the part I don't understand," Be'lem shot in. "If you didn't like the sacrifice, then why did you have a ritual on your own the night we arrived? We saw your priest cut the throat of a man!"  
"A necessary evil, one I had preferred not to undertake. I never liked having to do that. In fact, I take a dose of Valium before every ceremony to help act impassively. Otherwise I would throw up."  
"Why is it necessary?" Be'lem demanded again.

"Please, can't we just focus on our common goal here?" Kamala Khan tried to divert the subject. "As I understand it, there's no way anyone of us 'mortals' can overthrow Kali – it requires another god for it, am I correct in that assumption?"  
"You are," Tra'ol said suspiciously.  
"But no god is currently aware of Kali being here…?"  
"Except for Baal, but he wont cross into Ra's territory in risk of facing his wrath. Ra is currently one of the two most powerful system lords, it would be foolish to challenge him."  
"So you need to tell this Ra of kali's whereabouts, but you have no way of secretly contacting him?"  
"Get to the point, Khan!" Be'lem growled impatiently.  
"I take it you know how to use one of these?" Kamala Khan brought up his hand and showed the odd content he had in his palm. It appeared to be a small sphere, roughly the size of a billiard ball, grey polished and quite innocent looking. It was so simple and inconspicuous that no one would look at it twice, thinking that it was something special. To the two Jaffa, its significance was of great importance.

"A Goa'uld long-range visual communication device?!" The surprise of seeing the object in the hand of an insignificant human was so great that it took a few seconds for the Jaffa to pull themselves together. "There hasn't been a Goa'uld on this planet for _centuries!_ How did you come by this? How can you even know what it is?!"  
Kamala Khan hesitated. The answer was one he had sworn never to reveal – but then, this was circumstances that had forced him to take desperate measures. He decided that it was best to stick to the truth in this matter – any other story would sound too farfetched and would result in loosing the chance of receiving the help he needed from the two Jaffa.  
"It's not entirely true… there actually _is_ another of Kali's kind here. He goes by the name of Seth."  
"Seth? _Setesh?!_ The god of chaos? The brother of Osiris?!"  
"I'm working for _him!_ " Khan admitted. "I'm reporting to him through this orb."  
"Seth has been wanted by the system lords for ages, but there hasn't been any clue at all where he has been hiding!" Be'lem said. "You're saying he's still _here?_ He never left this world?!"

"Seth told me that his kind abandoned this world some 5000 years ago, and a ring of the gods were buried… no one has been here since then, and that's how he likes it. He is very concerned that Kali has found her way here – he fears that it will bring the attention of others. He wants her gone, and I am free to use whatever means necessary to drive her away."  
"I don't get it," Tra'ol intervened. "What interest does Seth have in the Thuggee cult? He craves for worshippers just like any other system lord, why would he re-start a cult that worships Kali?"  
Khan looked embarrassed. "He didn't. He is not fully aware of what is going on here. Seth is right now leading a sect in Europe where I dropped out of school and was initiated – my assignment was to start another sect in his name in another country, so I returned here as I am native to this land. The problem is that Seth is an Egyptian god – and no Indian would join a sect that wasn't a religion of Hindu origin. But I discovered the remains of a once powerful brutish cult, and I managed to convince the current high priest in how to rebuild it. I started to recruit followers, picking random souls from the unsocial and depressed part of the society outcasts to join our cause in return for a more meaningful life.

"To ensure their loyalty, I allowed Mola Ram to undertake those sacrificial rituals – I figured that by making the new followers see the committed murders in the name of Kali, they would be indirectly as responsible for those as the priests. No one would dare to rat to the British army in fear that they would be incarcerated as well for being members of a forbidden cult and dishonor their entire family in the process. My plan was that as soon as I had the number of members I required, I would subject them to the Nish'ta gas myself, but with the brand that would make them loyal to Seth! But then you and your god showed up and ruined everything I worked for. I'm going to have to start all over now, but first I need to get rid of Kali!  
"There, you got the absolute truth! Now, do you want to help me or not?"  
Be'lem and Tra'ol looked at each other. "I'm not sure…" the former said. "You're working for an enemy to the Goa'uld who is wanted for treachery. Going against Kali would in effect favor _him!_ "  
"Setesh is insignificant," Tra'ol shot back. "and he has no way off this world. If he want's to be ruler of this worthless rock, then let him! In the end it will be Ra's problem, and not any of our concern! It's kali's madness we have to focus on now!"

"Right, Be'lem relented and took the small visual sphere from Khan's hand. "But don't think of a minute that we're doing this in some way for _you_ or your master! Your little cult is of no interest to us - we are only seeking to save our people. If you in some way have any second thoughts and seek to betray us, you will pay for it dearly!"  
Kamala looked annoyed for being accused of distrustfulness. "Just do your part, Jaffa, so that we both can be on our own way. Just return that to me when you're done – you should not risk being caught with that thing."

* * *

Many billions of miles from the planet, out in space, Baal's small fleet was still holding position just outside the territorial border which marked the region that belonged to the system lord Ra. They were still waiting for a sign, expecting Kali to try to sneak away from the world of the Tauri any time soon and make her escape – but for reasons they could not fathom, the demon goddess was taking her sweet time. The Goa'uld did not register the passing of time the same way that the people of Earth did, but the wait had been long and was beginning to take its toll. Baal's cunningness had taught him the value of patience, but even he was beginning to tire now. He knew where Kali was, and it would be easy to just swoop in and apprehend her. But the risk was too great – Ra may be occupied at the moment with a different business, but Baal did not want to risk his own reputation by crossing the border and go in. Being as a powerful system lord as he was, Ra's retribution would be forceful would he find out, and Baal would be classed as a fool for attracting the sun-god's wrath at a moment where circumstances was not in his favor. That may change some time in the future maybe… but it was not today.

There was a welcoming interruption in the otherwise dull and monotone passing of time a couple of hours later when a signal was intercepted by the sensors in the Peltac.  
"Lord Baal," the Jaffa stationed at the helm spoke up. "We're picking up a transmission originating from the world of the Tauri."  
"Let's hear it!" Baal responded, feeling a slight anxiety grow.  
"It's a visual, but the signal is weak… we will need to boost it a bit. There… putting it on display now."  
On the screen came an image of an unknown Jaffa, but the symbol branded on his forehead told the crew of the vessel that it was one of Kali's minions. Although the signal was boosted, it was still an unclear transmission. They could still make out the words spoken though.  
" _This is an unauthorized transmission for Ra or any other god who is willing to listen. Kali the Destroyer is wanted by the system lords for her plans to join forces with Sokar and thereby risking tipping the balance of power into his favor. She needs to stopped! Kali is currently hiding on the home world of the Tauri. You will be able to home in on her position by following the signal by this transmission. There is only one Ha'tak vessel at her disposal orbiting the planet. We've successfully managed to remove the control-crystal for the shields, and we've put her long-range sensors down to its lowest setting. If you strike swiftly and sudden, you will have caught her unawares. You can have her arrested and brought to a Goa'uld tribunal or whatever you wish to do, but Kali's terror needs to be stopped! She's crazy! We ask you to hurry – we don't know how long we can maintain the secret of the sabotaged shields. Repeat: any of the Goa'uld system lords out there, you will find Kali the Destroyer on the home world of…_ "

"It seems that Kali's quest for joining forces with Sokar has made some of her Jaffa to turn Shol'va!" the Jaffa at the helm stated. "Should we really listen to this, my lord?"  
Baal sat a moment in deep thought. This was an interesting turn of events – her own Jaffa has opened them an opportunity to move in and put an end to Kali's ridiculous plans. What could have prompted them to turn against her, he wondered? And how could he be sure that this wasn't some hoax, a trick by Kali, to lure them into a trap? Baal needed options.  
"Can Ra receive this transmission?" he asked.  
"I'm fairly certain he cannot, my lord," the Jaffa said. "He's currently too far away, being engaged in his battle with Kronus… and the signal is too weak. Whatever device the Shol'va is using, it's of a very old design, worn out by time – it does not have the range. The only reason _we_ picked it up is because we are monitoring the activity from the Tauri home world – I find no reason why Ra would do so."  
"It's a little too convenient…" Baal pondered. "It could be a trap. _I_ would certainly take the opportunity to set one under these circumstances!"  
"But she is not _you_ , my lord."  
"No… she most certainly isn't." Baal leaned back in his throne, stroking his chin. "She is bloodthirsty… and not the least cunning as I am. It could very well be that some of her Jaffa has indeed turned against her…"  
"So how do we respond, my lord?"

How indeed? To Baal it could very well be a trap as much as it seemed that it wasn't. Kali wasn't cunning… but she could be _devious!_ A less scrupulous system lord could very well be lured in and become ambushed if that was indeed Kali's plan – a plan to capture the ship perhaps, as her own is too badly damaged to repair. Such a hoax would play the Goa'uld taking the bait like a fool – and Baal was _no_ fool! His thing was cunning thinking, and that was how he would respond.  
"Call up our own long-range sensor-readings," Baal ordered. "I want to see what we got out there."  
The Jaffa complied, and shortly afterwards there was a schematic on the screen of all if any activity going out in space. It seemed at first glance that they were relatively alone in the region, but then they saw that there were some blips coming into range in a close-by sector. Baal recognized the formation the blips travelled in as well as the energy signature their sensors picked up.  
"Is that who I think it is?" Baal asked even though he already knew the answer.  
"I do believe so, my lord," the Jaffa confirmed, knowing what his god was getting at.

Baal's face broke out into a smile. "Relay the transmission we received. Boost the signal and send it to those coordinates – but mask the point of origin. I want him to think that it comes from the planet and not from us!"  
The Jaffa did all that he was instructed. When it was done, they all settled back to await the results. To their satisfaction, the blips changed course and set straight for the home world of the Tauri. Baal leaned back again with a grin plastered on his face. If this was indeed a game set up by Kali to lure him in, then he had just changed the rules. The new player Baal had just brought in was quite resourceful: either he would spring the trap if there indeed was one, from where he would either get out of it or lose - or he would actually succeed in capturing Kali or force her out into the open, where Baal would be waiting to receive. No matter what would happen next, Baal would win, one way or another. And he didn't even have to waste any of his own resources to achieve it.


	8. The code of honor

The cover on the large golden sarcophagus opened as two square wing-like blocks spread apart, revealing its content back to the world. Within the glowing coffin, Kali the Destroyer opened her feral eyes and rose, rested, and renewed, as was the purpose with the sarcophagus. Stepping out of the coffin, Kali inhaled and took a moment to evaluate her state of feelings that usually was influenced by the primordial emotions of her Unas host to the inborn lust for causing suffering and death of the Goa'uld larvae.  
For once she was at peace - the bloodlust of her primitive Unas-side had been satisfied. Usually she would have to rely on her anger-depriving drink to keep the primordial instincts of her host at bay. Should her rage become too big, induced, and intensified by the bestial side of her blending, she would lose control and that would from time to time cause consequences that she would preferably not have. But the execution of Levar Zane has temporarily settled the blood-cravings of both entities, a state of mind she hadn't had for a long time. As she was momentarily not distracted by the primitive lusts of her personality, she could take her time to think more clearly.

It was the primordial bloodlust that usually dominated her mind that had led her to seek coalition with Sokar in the first place. Kali always believed that if she became ruler of the hellish moon Netu, she would find the means to satisfy her cravings by inflicting pain and suffering to the prisoners there – she had been prepared to surrender her entire fleet to Sokar for that position. The other system lords are against the idea and they want to stop her, that's what had forced her to seek refuge on this primitive world of the Tauri. But what she had found here was better than what she could ever have imagined. Despite the pitiful numbers, the discovery of this small sect of Thuggee that still worshipped her and had held up her bloody traditions had been a lucky break, even better still as they held in their possession the means to tip the balance of power in the galaxy even more, in the form of the ancient lantian Sankara Stones. With those sacred rocks she could become the most powerful Goa'uld of all, even more powerful than Sokar and Ra combined. Naqahdah was the key, the rare material that was the source of their power. With the Sankara Stones she would be able to create as much of the ore as she wanted from the earth itself of this world, as the rocks had the ability to alter the atomic structure of any element.

It would require tremendous heat to make the process though, as most Naqahdah deposits was found on volcanic grounds or near the center of planets. She would have to transform this world into a volcanic wasteland to make the ore, much like how Netu looked like.  
How ironic. Kali had sought to become ruler of Netu, but she did not need to anymore. She was to create her own Netu right here! And with the help of the Thuggee, whose numbers can be easily increased by using the Nish'ta drug, she would have the perfect servants to uphold her new order, while the High Priest Mola Ram would do his thing to satisfy her sadistic lusts.  
Power was within her grasp – she could feel it. And there was no one to stop her. Only Baal knew where she was, but he was too concerned about his reputation to go in after her. Kali also knew that he was too proud to inform Ra of her whereabouts, so the sun god would remain unaware of what she was doing on this world.  
Yes, the power was almost hers… if only she had all five of the stones. That was the obstacle standing in her way right now. She could feel the impatience filling her. Something needed to be done, and quickly. She summoned to her a Jaffa servant.

"Bring me the human called Mola Ram," she ordered. The Jaffa bowed and walked out towards the ring platform.

* * *

Mola Ram was standing on the sacrificial altar, admiring the new addition to the statue of Kali. Or to be more precise: admiring the new sculpture, standing almost at the same height as he, and which was positioned right between the statue's legs: a gigantic semi-demonic skull carved out of rock. And within the cavity of the eye-sockets of the stone-skull, were the two Sankara stones, giving the sculpture a ferocious stare, as the sacred stones glowed in their eerie way. He was looking forward to the day when they would have all five stones: one was to be positioned in the 'nose', the final two within the mouth. It would give the skull an almost living look, one that would signify the power of the Thuggee. Mola Ram held out his hands in front of the stones, as if he was absorbing heat from them even though the stones did not radiate any warmth. What he was doing was that he was trying to accumulate more of their power, to replenish that which he himself was low on. As he had told Kamala Khan, he needed the power for the means of preforming another sacrifice. He didn't like the idea of waiting until the next full moon, he wanted to do another one soon – he _needed_ to do another one soon. The feeling of holding a victim's life in his hand had become like a drug to him and had given him an insatiable lust to torture and kill more than he'd had before… he craved for another session, and he didn't want to wait.

The rings came down from the roof of the cave, ran its cycle and disappeared back up into its concealed cavity. Mola Ram felt this to be an intrusion. Glancing in displeasure at the Jaffa that had just ringed down, the priest imagined shackling the other into the torture rack, ripping out his heart and lowering him down into the lava below. The very thought alone of doing it was giving him a rush.  
"Our god the mighty Kali is summoning you, priest!" the Jaffa then said. "You will go to her now!"  
Had it been any other kind of order, Mola Ram would've hurled the Jaffa over the edge of the chasm behind him. The high priest took orders from no one, except from Kali Ma. And since it was her command the Jaffa had passed along, Mola Ram would obey. But he was giving the other a sour look for his impudence.  
"Bring me to her!" Mola Ram said, empathizing his words to make it into a command of his own. The Jaffa twitched his head, indicating to the priest that he would take position beside him. Again, Ram was thinking of ripping out his living organ. He even instinctively raised his hand to reach for the other's chest, but he was distracted as the rings came down, surrounding the two. A brief moment of bright light came, and when it cleared, the scenery had changed in his perspective to a different kind. The ring-technology was way beyond him to understand, he would never fully grasp the concept that he had just been 'beamed' to the Goa'uld mothership. To him it was all magic.

"Come," the Jaffa said, leading the way. Mola Ram would have killed him in displeasure of him keep giving him orders, hadn't he been busy taking in the whole new environment. This was the home of the gods, and he had just been invited. It was a great honor.  
The homestead of the gods was not what Ram had expected. The walls of the corridors were exquisite, and yet simple. Some parts were gold-plated; gigantic plaques that had writings all over - a language unfamiliar to him, if that was what it was consisted of strange markings… perhaps they were runes. The rest of the architecture was in a material that looked like polished stone. He wondered if this was what the catacombs looked like before the British raided the temple and destroyed it completely.  
The doors were masterfully concealed. The pair had stopped before a wall that appeared to be a dead end before the Jaffa twisted a hidden knob and a new passageway opened. Being led inside, Ram found himself standing in a chamber that unbeknownst to him was the bridge of the space vessel, and Kali the Destroyer was standing before the viewport. The Jaffa bowed.

"Mighty Kali," the Jaffa then spoke. "The tauri priest."  
"Leave us," the demon goddess commanded without turning around. The Jaffa bowed again and left.  
"O mighty Kali Ma," Mola Ram began to speak in a humble tone. "I can find no greater honor than having been invited up to your temple in the sky. I am beyond words…"  
Kali had still not turned around from the viewport. Instead she made a beaconing with her hand. "Come, Mola Ram… stand here beside me!" The priest complied, but with caution. He didn't want to get to close in case Kali would feel it to be too intrusive.  
"Look." Kali was indicating to the view outside the 'window'. The Earth filled up the entire frame. "This is your world, as seen from above. What do you think of it?"  
Mola Ram looked, but he couldn't understand why Kali wanted him to. It was spectacular to see it from so high above, but that was all it was to him. He could see the blue oceans, the green of the forests, and even the snow-covered mountaintops. Some other people would have found it beautiful – Mola Ram didn't care. All he saw was land to dominate in the name of Kali – anything else about the nature was indifferent to him. He wouldn't care less if it was all leveled to the ground.

Ram was bewildered though why Kali wanted him to see this. Surely, she wasn't turning nostalgic?  
"Well?" Kali asked.  
The priest chose his words carefully. "It… is an interesting experience to see it from high above, O mighty Kali… but begging your pardon, I find the scenery… tedious."  
Kali only grunted in reply before she went over to the Peltac and twisted a few switches. The main window was multi-purposed: not only did it serve as the usual means to watch outside, but it was also a view-screen. At any time Kali could call up another picture, and that was what she did now. On the 'window', another image of a stellar body was uploaded from the archives and was now overlapping the real-time sight of the planet Earth.  
"How would you like it if it looked like this?" Kali had brought up an image of the volcanic hell-moon of Netu. Instead of blue oceans, Mola Ram could now see seas of liquid fires – the grounds of the forests were scorched, and instead of snow, the mountain ridges were covered with black soot. " _This_ is what your world will look like when I'm finished with it!" Kali said with a tone that spoke like a fact that was going to take place and not just some empty threat. "How do you feel about _that?_ "  
The edges of Mola Ram's mouth began to twitch closer to his eyes. "It's… more you, O mighty Kali." Fire and chaos… that was more fitting to the name of Kali the Destroyer.

"Can you imagine yourself living on a place like that, Ram?"  
"I already do, my lord," the priest said truthfully. He had always found more comfort residing within the catacombs surrounded by fire and brimstone rather than the disgusting green world of the outside.  
"It will be like hell for our enemies – but paradise for us!"  
"As it should be, my lord."  
"From the lakes of lava a palace shall be built from where I will rule," Kali rambled on, the Goa'uld megalomania being the dominant power behind her words. "And in the depths of that palace is where my enemies will be lowered down into the fire while their hearts burn in front of the public, maintaining my power!"  
To Mola Ram it sounded like Kali got her strength from the sacrifices, as if the victims' lifeforce was poured into her when they were killed. If that was the case, then he would have to do them more often. It was his duty to make the god Kali Ma more powerful! "And you shall have it," he told the demon goddess. "You shall have it all!"  
"And you are willing to provide me with that power?" Kali asked the priest. "Do you wish to become my general executioner and kill for me?"

Ram smiled in anticipation. "O mighty Kali Ma, I dedicate my life to do it for you. No honor would be greater than that!"  
"Then I need the _stones!_ " Kali said determinately. "All _five_ of them! The quicker we find them, the quicker I can begin my rule! Why is it taking so long to _find_ them?!"  
"We shall double our efforts!" Ram promised.  
"I hope so, Mola Ram, for your sake. Patience is not one of my greatest qualities." She could feel some of her Unas cravings returning as she said this.  
"Don't worry, Mighty Kali – with the Brotherhood of Shiva vanquished, there is only the British who can stand in our way… and I am certain that your forces can deal with them as easily as they dealt with Levar Zane's people. Unless there is another god out there coming in, there is no one to stop us."  
Kali chuckled. "Ra is too proud to come near this world that once drove him away, he doesn't wish to be reminded of it… and Baal is too concerned about his reputation to cross the border, as well as the other Goa'uld. The very though of any one else coming after me here… it is ludicrous!"

Kali was forced to eat those words as a blast-hit suddenly rocked the ship, and shortly afterwards the alarm blared off. Several screams were heard from the corridors outside. "We're being attacked!"  
"No! It's _impossible!_ Baal would never come after me like this!" Kali rushed to the communications board and opened a channel to engineering. "Report!" she barked.  
"We're being attacked, my lord!" a voice replied.  
"I know that!" Kali snarled. "Why didn't the radar detect them before?! How was Baal allowed to get so close?"  
"It's not Baal, my lord!"  
"What! You mean its Ra?"  
"No, my lord! It's…" The rest of the communications was garbled as the vessel shook from another hit, so Mola Ram didn't catch what the disembodied was saying. But obviously Kali had heard, because she went stiff as if the news greatly concerned her.  
"Who is it, mighty Kali?" he asked.  
"YU!"  
"M-me, mighty Kali?" Mola Ram said perplexed.  
"Not _**you!**_ " Kali growled. "Don't get started on that! It's Yu-huang Shang Ti: Lord Yu the Great!"

Kali had made a seriously grave miscalculation. Lord Yu was the first Chinese dragon Emperor, the oldest of all system lords. But the thing about Yu is that his reputation as a god was of a different kind. Kali had solely depended on the Goa'ulds' megalomaniacal side when hiding within Ra's territory. Because the 'young' cocky sun-god was one of the two most powerful system-lords, no other Goa'uld would risk getting involved in a conflict with him without proper cause as his retribution would be quite severe. Any Goa'uld attempting that at this time would be branded as a fool and his legitimacy as a god would be questioned. The pride of each system-lord prevented them from taking an action that would look bad for them.  
Lord Yu the Great however was not driven by pride, but of _honor._ He, like every other system lord was not fond of the idea of Kali wanting to join forces with Sokar and tip the balance of power in the galaxy to his favor - but in Yu's case, it was honor that demanded him to take action against Kali, not pride. And no territorial border of the galaxy was to stand in the way of upholding that honor. Every Goa'uld expected, even _knew_ that that was how Yu the Great would respond in accordance to his reputation, and therefore he would _not_ be branded as fool for crossing the border. It would've been more of a surprise if Yu hadn't responded.

Kali had foolishly enough not taken the fact into consideration that Yu would be the one coming after her. How he had found out about her whereabouts she didn't know, but she knew that Yu would never back down now as he had gotten the wind of her. Yu's way of thinking was that either he would prevail of he would die fighting. Kali had no choice but to fight back.  
"We must repel the attack!" Kali almost screamed into the communicator. "Raise shields and concentrate all gun-batteries at Yu's flagship…"  
But the voice interrupted Kali. "The shields are inoperable, my lord!"  
" _What?!_ "  
"We were running on our reserve control-crystals – they've been switched back to the original broken ones! It's the same with the board running the proximity-sensors! We've been sabotaged!"  
"What about weapons?" Kali demanded.  
"Those were the first Yu targeted! They're gone, my lord – and now they're concentrating their fire at our engines. We're dead in space! We cannot…"  
The communications suddenly went dead in a shower of sparks as another hit short-circuited the line and caused an overload which spread in a feedback to Kali's end. The Ha'tak vessel was lost. The communications lines that was still functioning blared out the order to abandon the ship.

Kali rushed out from the bridge with Mola Ram running after and they went straight into her private chambers where she found her female Lo'taur covering underneath a bulkhead.  
"My sarcophagus is to be evacuated! It must not be destroyed!" she ordered. "Load it aboard an Al-kesh and rendezvous with me down on the surface! _Move,_ you worm!" Even though the female servant was overwhelmed with fear, her training took over and she went to carry out her master's command. Meanwhile the Ha'tak vessel began to shake violently from multiple hits. They should be leaving, but Kali wasn't ready to.  
"I have been _betrayed!_ " she snarled. "Both shields and proximity sensors have been tampered with, allowing my enemies to get close! I will find the ones responsible, and when I do, they will pay dearly!" The demon goddess was looking around, determined in finding the culprit before she went anywhere else. "Where would the Shol'vas be hiding? They won't escape my wrath!"  
It was the Unas-side of her blended physiology which only recently had been put to rest was now in effect again, adding anger to the megalomaniacal Goa'uld symbiote which made her feel completely vengeful. The thought of having been betrayed was such an insult to her being – the feeling became so overwhelming that she forgot about her own vulnerability aboard a dying ship. Her craving for retribution exceeded her instincts for survival.

Mola Ram, who was feeling insecure with being on unknown grounds that was being destroyed around him and who desperately wanted to get out of there found, on a rare occasion in his life, the wisdom of words necessary to persuade Kali to take an action for withdrawal.  
"If you have indeed been betrayed, my lord, then you won't find the traitors up here. They would already have made their escape back down to the temple, so they wouldn't risk getting caught in the attack."  
Kali glared at the priest, contemplating on his words. "One might think that you were really eager to get out of here, Mola Ram… however, your words have merit! A shol'va wouldn't remain behind and get killed in the attack they themselves set up, so they must already have left. We will go after them and flush them out!"  
"Your wisdom is absolute, O mighty Kali!"  
The goddess and the priest made their way back to the ring room while the ship continued to deteriorate in explosions around them. Air was escaping through fissures in the hull and smoke filled the corridors, making it difficult to breath. The pair made it to the ring transporter just in time before the main power was cut. And just seconds after they'd 'beamed' out, Kali's mother ship blew up like a miniature supernova.

* * *

Kali's first prime Kru'ul was waiting for her at the sacrificial altar when the ring transporter delivered the demon goddess and Mola Ram from the doomed ship.  
"O mighty Kali," Kru'ul said. "It is such a relief to see you well."  
" _Never mind that!_ " Kali growled. "Someone in our midst lured Yu to my position! I want the Shol'va found and brought before me, _now!_ "  
"Yes, my lord, but… shouldn't we prepare for our defense? From what I gather after listening to the communication reports, our ship has been destroyed! It won't be long until lord Yu send down his forces to deal with those of us who wasn't onboard."  
Now it was Kru'ul Kali fixed her bestial eyes on. "Whose wrath do you fear the most, Kru'ul: Yu's or mine? Your reluctance to flush out the Shol'va makes _you_ a suspect as well!"  
Kru'ul swallowed nervously but managed to compose himself. "I'd never betray you, O mighty Kali. The thought of a Shol'va amongst us is enough to make me as furious as you – but I do not wish lord Yu to get the advantage of ambushing you further by disorganizing our troops in search for the betrayer."  
"I do not fear Yu," Kali snarled. "If one of his Jaffa even dare to show his face down here, then I will…" What Kali had in mind to do with the enemy forces she never got the chance to spell out, but she was about to get the opportunity to make good of her promise. The hatch in the roof of the cave opened again, dropping the rings yet another time. They knew that it couldn't be other evacuates from the ship as it was already gone, so it had to be another that had locked in with a transport beam.

"Incoming!" Kru'ul barked, activating his staff weapon. The few Jaffa that was also there did the same. The travelers of the ring transporter materialized and were released from confinement of the donut-shaped devices as the disappeared back up in their compartment. The newcomers were another group of Jaffa – to Mola Ram they all looked the same. But these were not Kali's forces; the markings on their foreheads was different. Their allegiance was to lord Yu. Since they didn't know what to expect, they were caught by surprise by Kru'ul and his legions as they were struck down by staff weapon blasts. Yu's Jaffa only managed to pick out two of Kali's before they got shot.  
Kali's disadvantage however was that the enemy forces could quickly send in another wave via the rings – Kali's own minions were either dispersed or dead – and soon they became overwhelmed by the numbers. Some of the newcomers did catch the sight of Kali, and attempted to shoot her, but she was ready with her personal shield which she erected around her being and deflected all energy-blasts before they could connect. Kali did conclude though that she was at risk by staying here. She silently went out through the back of the altar, leaving her minions behind.

"Jaffa! Kree!" a first prime of Yu's with Asian features ordered, signaling is forces to press forward.  
"Kree, Jaffa!" Kru'ul countered. 'Kree' meant many things in the Goa'uld community, so it was easy to misinterpret the meaning. Kru'ul was actually signaling a withdrawal, as they were quickly becoming overmatched by the enemy. Kali's Jaffa vacated the altar with Yu's forces in pursuit. None of the newcomers cared about Mola Ram – to them he was just a simple resident of the planet who probably worked as a lowly servant, not much to bother with. They had no idea what his true role was. Thankfully, from Mola Ram's perspective, they were also unaware of the value of the stones that was inserted in the eye-sockets of the stone skull as those were ignored as well, and the priest knew that he couldn't risk having the intruders learn what they really were. Mola Ram walked up to the center of the altar, intending to collect them for safekeeping until this new crisis had been solved.  
He was about to pick one up when he heard the rings come down once more. Mola Ram turned around, expecting to see another group of Jaffa invading the temple. It turned out there was only two this time, flanking a third figure which was clearly Chinese in appearance.  
This third person in the lead was no lowly servant. His clothing was grandeur: scarlet robes decorated with gold trimmings, but with a simple 'hat'. He was bald, but with a slick black beard surrounding his mouth which was short-trimmed, except from the jaw where long straws reached down to his collarbone. His small slanted eyes sought out Mola Ram, and as he fixed his gaze on the priest, his eyes flashed.  
Ram understood. This was no lowly being – this was the god that Kali was concerned of: Lord Yu the Great himself! And if he had the same abilities which Kali possessed, Ram knew that he had nothing to stand against him with. The Thuggee priest spread his arms to the side, signaling surrendering – but there was a trick behind this gesture. As he stretched out his arms, his robes were spread as well and was effectively blocking the view of the precious Sankara stones. For as long as he could, he would keep them secret.

Yu looked upwards at the big statue of kali, with her lei of human skulls, and her loincloth of severed arms. Yu's hard mouth creased into a disgust. "What a revolting décor," he snorted in a distorted voice. In Yu's opinion, the idea of presenting the remains of an enemy like this was barbaric and primitive. But then again, Kali's host was of the Unas which was primitive in comparison to the Goa'uld. Yu approached the high priest.  
"Where is Kali the barbarian?" he demanded.  
Ram's reply was defiant. "You are referring to the mightiest of all gods of the Hindi culture, lord Yu. The one whom I have sworn absolute loyalty to. I would never reveal her whereabouts to usurpers such as you!"  
The two escort Jaffa looked ready to shoot the priest where he stood, but Yu halted them. "Your loyalty to Kali is honorable, but misplaced," Yu told the priest. "You will find that following in her footsteps will cost you more than you realize.  
"I will find kali myself," Yu continued. "I will spare your life only because I can't judge you for feeling loyalty to your god, I would demand nothing less from my own underlings. But be warned: it may be only temporary. If I find that you have been dishonest or if you get in my way, the retribution will be most severe! I may yet find reason to blow out these caves, with _you_ still in it!"


	9. Consequences for betrayal

Yu's Jaffa warriors swarmed through the catacombs like a tidal wave, shooting down everyone who tried to stand against them. Kali's forces did their best to repel the enemy, but their efforts were for naught.  
The Thuggee guards didn't even try to fight. Before they were forced to drink the blood of Kali, they had been the elite of the Brotherhood of Shiva, and they had been no match at all against the Goa'uld technology. How were they to fight off this invasion if they couldn't beat Kali's forces? They may live by evil and bloodthirst now, but what good was that against impossible odds? Their self-preservation took effect – they opted rather to flee than to die for a hopeless cause. The only Thuggee who took up the fight was the chief guard: Roach the giant. He picked the enemy out one by one, disarmed them, and then he crushed their skulls like lemons underneath his massive hands.

As Roach finished off another unfortunate 'victim', he heard his name being called. Chattar Lal stood behind a large rock, watching the giant from a secluded corner. He wasn't hiding, he was observing. Lal took in everything that was going on in the catacombs, studying the new enemy and learning what he felt needed to be learned about them. Just a short moment ago, Chattar Lal had spied another group coming into the caves: two of the intruders escorting a third clad in a fashionable red and gold garb. He figured that it had to be the commander of this bunch, perhaps even the supreme leader. If he was to be eliminated, then Lal would bring a great victory to his god Kali. He had followed in a distance, waiting for an opportunity.  
It was pure luck that Lal had spotted Roach the giant close by while trailing the intruders. Ever since the large man had consumed the blood of Kali, he had become more brutish and emotionally primitive than what he had been as a member of the Brotherhood of Shiva. Quite easy for somebody like Chattar Lal to manipulate. He called Roach to him and explained his suspicions about the three newcomers.

Roach became eager to make his kill, But Lal held him back. He wanted to take them by surprise.  
The surprise was on him however as they became witness to something he had not expected. Two of Kali's Jaffa, their allies, came forth, signaling submission, and asked to speak to the intruder.  
"Lord Yu, please hold your fire. We wish to bargain!"  
Yu signaled his escort to not take action and motioned to the two to approach. "Speak!" he commanded.  
"Mighty Yu, we offer you our service," the two Jaffa said as they got down on their knees before the Chinese emperor. "We, Tra'ol and Be'lem, swear loyalty to you."  
Yu's reply was not the one they had expected. "You'd betray your god to pledge yourselves before me? Why would you do this?"

"We… we do not wish to serve Kali anymore. Her bloodthirst has brought her to a level of hideous proportions, a way of tyranny that we do not want to be part of. That's why we sent the message and disabled the shields on her ship. We made it so that you can claim victory over Kali, mighty Yu."  
Yu snorted. "You think I wouldn't have been able to defeat Kali without your betrayal?"  
Be'lem began to stammer, sensing that this was not going the way they had wanted. "T-that's not at all what we are saying, mighty Yu – we only intended to…"  
"Your intentions are nothing but _dishonorable!_ " Yu barked. "Kali is a beast, but she is still your god, one that you have sworn allegiance to! An oath is a pact, a sacred one that you've _broken!_ By doing so you have dishonored yourselves and your families as you will be looked upon as Shol'vas – and you thought that _I_ would take Shol'va into my ranks of Jaffa?!  
"Remove yourselves from my sight!" Yu went on in clear disgust. "Your own disgrace will bring you your rightful punishment for betrayal – and don't believe that it will be a kind one." And with that Yu left, leaving the two traitorous Jaffa behind.

The two rejected Jaffa were dumbfounded, and not a little lost. "He wouldn't take us," Tra'ol commented dejectedly. "What are we going to do now?"  
"If Yu want's nothing to do with us, then there's no way off this planet," Be'lem muttered. "Kali's ship is gone, and no other Goa'uld will come here. We're stranded no matter what. The only thing we can do is to get out of these caves and hide, until hopefully another opportunity presents itself."  
"We won't make it here on this rock for long!" Tra'ol pointed out. "Our Prim'tas will mature long before another ship arrives, and there are no replacements to procure here! We'll _die_ without symbiotes!"  
"Don't you think I _know_ that?" Be'lem replied irritated. It was unbelievable how catastrophic this had become. The Jaffa had always seen it as an honor to carry Goa'uld symbiotes in exchange for a long life and being impervious to maladies. But longevity however came with a high price: without the symbiotes, the Jaffa was in for a slow and extremely uncomfortable death unless the gods would grant them a replacement.  
The truth had been there in front of them all the time, but they had refused to see it: the Jaffa were slaves under the gods as they only had two choices in life: obedience or death. The Jaffa in the past who had come to this insight had quickly been silenced by the Goa'uld before any seed of a rebellion would spread.

Tra'ol and Be'lem were not in any position to make good of this insight. On the contrary, it just put them in a more worse predicament because of the choice they had made to betray Kali.  
"I can think of only one possibility," Be'lem finally said. "We have to locate the Chaapa-ai. It's our only chance off this planet."  
"How are we to find it? It could be buried anywhere!"  
"Some Tauri historian must know something about it. We'll just have to make him talk."  
"That won't do you any good," a new voice interrupted the two. Chattar Lal stepped out of the shadows. "Because you are to answer for your crimes to our god Kali Ma for your betrayal, and afterwards you won't be alive to do anything else!"  
The two traitor Jaffa may have been caught in the act, but they were not that swayed. "And you won't be alive to tell Kali of us!" Tra'ol spat as both he and Be'lem raised their Zat'N'ktels to shoot Chattar Lal down. Unfortunately for them, the Thuggee underling was just a distraction. As their attention was solely focused on Lal, they failed to spot how Roach the giant had snuck up behind them, and he put his massive hands on both and smacked their heads together. The two Jaffa dropped to the ground, dazed, but not dead.  
"Don't kill them," Chattar Lal told the Chief guard. "Our god kali will want to question them. Pick them up and we will bring them to her."

* * *

The drama of Chattar Lal apprehending the two traitor Jaffa had not gone completely unnoticed. There was another spectator hiding in the shadows, observing the events. Kamala Khan was taking in everything that was happening, and he felt no remorse at all for Tra'ol and Be'lem, even though it was through them he had orchestrated for the rival god Yu to come here. The two Jaffa had only been pawns in the gamble, and their purpose had been fulfilled. Khan didn't care whether they lived or died. However, their capture might prove to serve one more possibility for retribution. Chattar Lal was about to bring the captives to Kali, and she would no doubt question them. As he was fully aware of Kali's aggressive behavior, it might just give him the one desired advantage which he now sought.  
Kamala Khan snuck out from the shadows and headed for the body of a dead Jaffa that Roach the giant had recently killed. He found the item he wanted: a Jaffa staff weapon. Now all he needed to do was to get into position to make good use of it – but that was not a problem. He knew these caves, better than the Goa'uld warriors did. He knew just how to sneak around unnoticed.

* * *

In one of the adjoining caves, there was a stand-off going on between Kali's forces and Yu's. The two rival groups were shooting at each other with their staff weapons, making kills on both sides. But neither of the two would relent.  
Kali the Destroyer was covering behind her army with her personal shield erected. Any stray shots coming her way was deflected, leaving her unharmed. But her personal safety was still at risk, so she made herself scarce, leaving her underlings to deal with Yu's Jaffa. She didn't care at all that her own Jaffa that she left behind was going to die, as it was their duty in existence to lay down their lives for their god. Kali found a secluded corner in the cave which the enemy had not yet found. There she could make a brief stop and evaluate the situation. Her first prime Kru'ul was still with her, together with three of her closest Jaffa warriors – but that was all. She knew that she had to get out of there before Yu overcame them all.

They were joined by Mola Ram, whom also was well familiar with the tunnels where the intruders were not, so he too had managed to sneak around the adversaries without being discovered.  
"The caves have been completely overrun, my lord" Ram reported with regret. "The Thuggee guards have fled, the cowards, and your own forces have been severely diminished. We cannot hold!"  
"My servants have failed me," Kali growled as she clenched all of her six fists. "Worse even, I have been _betrayed!_ The very thought enrages me, and the core of my being is screaming for retribution to the ones who dared to turn against me!" It was the bestial side of her Unas host that was flaring up again, and this time she had no anger deprivation drink available to help to quench it. "Who was it? I _demand_ to know who!"  
"We will find out somehow, my lord," Kru'ul said, but with caution. "But our first priority should be to get you to safety.  
"I've been in contact with some survivors from our ship," Kru'ul continued. "An Al-kesh managed to escape the destruction and it is on its way down here to pick us up. We need to get to the abandoned palace above us to make our escape."  
Kali's eyes flashed. "I will not leave until the betrayer is brought before me! And if he is not, then I will kill everybody, starting with _you!_ " Kru'ul gulped.

"Allow me to make the deliverance of your request, my lord Kali!" a voice called out. They all turned, spotting Chattar Lal coming to them through another tunnel. Behind him was Roach the giant, carrying two Jaffa under his arms like he was dragging with him two sacks of potatoes.  
"We caught these two attempting to surrender to your enemy, my lord," Lal said as Roach dumped his load to the floor of the cave in front of the demon goddess. "On them we found these gems. I don't know if they were attempting to use them to bribe their way out, or if they were paid to betray you. I knew though that you'd want to question them yourself about it." He was holding up some thin crystal-like shards, presenting them to Kali.  
"Those are not gems," Kru'ul began. "They're control crystals! Those that were removed from the shield operating bank without a doubt, as well as the proximity sensors!" He looked down at the two Jaffa that had been caught red-handed. " _Shol'va!"_ he spat.  
Roach pulled the two captives up from the ground, rising them up so that they were sitting on their knees in front of their superiors. Kali walked up to them, her feral eyes radiating fury. "How _dare_ you betray me?!" she demanded. "Why?!"  
The game was up, so the two Jaffa traitors saw no reason to hide their agenda. They were dead anyway. "Because your way of ruling would be a path lined with fire and blood that would bring no kind of safety or prosperity for our kindred – only _terror!"_ Tra'ol spat. "You'll rule with tyranny, laying the Jaffa under you with obedience through _fear_ – fear of being executed horribly!"  
"You may start with your enemies," Be'lem spoke out. "but what happens once you ran out of those? Who then will be chosen to satisfy your sadistic bloodlust? Would you start picking victims from your minions?! Will any of us be safe?!"

Chattar Lal was smiling knowingly. "They're referring to the execution of Levar Zane. It is obvious that these two weak-minded fools are too soft-hearted to see the beauty of the power behind the ritual. Then I wasn't mistaken when I noticed their faces during the ceremony."  
"Beauty?!" Tra'ol burst out. "It's absolute madness!"  
"So, you don't like the way I destroy my enemies?" Kali growled. She raised two of her left arms, holding her palms above their foreheads and allowed her power to flow through the armbands and onto their skulls, torturing them. "You think I'm too sadistic for your tastes?"  
Kali was absolutely furious, and she wasn't the only one. Mola Ram felt the same anger as his god did, feeling indignant. How dared the two weaklings defy the rightful rule of their god? And worse even, question the method of the sacrificial ritual? Of course it was horror to their enemies – that was the whole point! But to Mola Ram and Kali, it was glorious. How could somebody call such a magnificent ceremony madness? And yet, unbeknownst to him, it was the madness Tra'ol was referring to that was now overwhelming the high priest. Mola Ram could feel the hunger rise up within him. He wanted to punish the two traitors with the very same method that was revolting to them. He wanted to pierce their torsos with his hands - he wanted to grab on to their living organs and rip those out of their chests. And he wanted to burn them – slowly sinking their squirming bodies into the magma and watch their extracted organs go up in flames in his fists. He wanted, _needed_ to do it so badly that his hands shook.

But it was Kali that would have her way with the traitors, as was within her rights as the god. And she was making good of her prerogative as she continued to torture the traitors with her armbands, making them howl in agony. So busy was she inflicting pain on her two subjects that she failed to notice how another came lurking through the tunnel behind her. The rest of the occupants in the cave were also unaware of the new intruder as they watched their god Kali delivering justice.  
Kamala Khan felt that the situation could not become better than this. Kali the Destroyer's attention was completely diverted to the two worthless outsiders, and none was currently aware of his presence. Khan had the perfect opportunity to do his master Seth's bidding: to get rid of the usurper god Kali who had come here and stolen his sect! He pointed the end of his captured staff weapon towards the small of Kali's back. She was going to get it completely unprepared and not have the slightest chance of activating her personal shield to deflect the blasts.

Four bolts of concentrated energy slammed into Kali's back, leaving her momentarily stunned and in complete shock in the middle of the floor. Then she let out a groan and fell.  
" _Noooooooooooooooooooo!"_ Mola Ram cried out. Kru'ul and the three remaining Jaffa still loyal to the demon goddess turned around and was ready to fire at the vermin who had dared to assault their master. But the assassin had already left the area. They never saw who the responsible was.  
In a mixture of grief and rage, Mola Ram barked an order to Roach the giant. "Go after him! Find the wretch who dared to do this and kill him!" Letting go of the two traitors, Roach rushed into the tunnel to hunt down the culprit. Tra'ol and Be'lem were still dazed from the interrogation Kali had done on them, so they didn't have the strength to try to escape. They were instantly captured by the last of the loyal Jaffa.  
Meanwhile Kru'ul, Mola Ram and Chattar Lal bent over the downed demon goddess. To their great surprise and overwhelming relief, they found that she was still alive. Unas physiology was much sturdier than that of a human, which enabled them to take much more abusive force than any other kind of lifeform the Goa'uld would take as hosts. The question remained if it was enough in this case?  
Kali groaned as she forced herself to get back up on her feet. To keep up the appearance of a powerful god, she refused any aiding hands from the minions.

"My lord Kali, are you all right?" Kru'ul asked.  
"I am not as weak as the rest of you fools," Kali growled as she stood tall and imposing once more.  
"No, of course not, my lord!" Kru'ul quickly replied. "Then you will heal?" Unlike Mola Ram, Kru'ul knew about the snake-like symbiote inhabiting the Unas creature which always kept the host body at full strength. It was the same with the prim'tas which all Jaffa carried.  
"Not quickly enough," Kali reluctantly admitted. "I need time within my sarcophagus!"  
"But that was destroyed with the ship, wasn't it?" the first prime asked.  
"I instructed my Lo'taur to have it loaded aboard an Al-kesh before it blew," Kali said. "It should be the one coming down here at this very moment."  
"Then we must get to the surface!" Kru'ul stated.  
"Yes," Kali concurred. "We have no more time to waste here! Make sure to bring the Shol'vas! I'll think up a suitable punishment for their betrayal on the way!"

"Mighty Kali Ma, are you leaving?" Mola Ram almost whined. He could almost feel the dream of world-wide domination slip through his fingers.  
"My battle with Yu is best fought on the home turf where I belong: up there, and not down here! I need to deal with this nuisance!"  
"Then… do you require… the need of the Sankara stones?" Mola Ram held forth the two precious stones which he had taken from the skull on the sacrificial altar for safe keeping. He really didn't want to let them go. It was those that gave him his power.  
Kali looked at the stones for a few seconds, contemplating on the offer before she replied. "It's only two! Without the other three they will never provide me their full potential! Keep them safe, Mola Ram. You'll need them to locate the rest! Find the others for me! When you have all five, I will know – and then I will return!"  
"I shall not rest until it is fulfilled! And I will continue the sacrifices to keep giving you life force and make you powerful!" Kali didn't know how Mola Ram had gotten the impression that the life of the victims was poured into her from the rituals, but she didn't care. Let the fool believe it. As long as he kept digging for the rest of the stones, she didn't care what Mola Ram did in his spare time.

"We need to get to the surface for the rendezvous!" Kali commanded.  
"There's a secret tunnel," Chattar Lal spoke up. "It's accessible from the old lava tunnel above the temple. It goes straight up to the abandoned palace on top of us."  
"That path is still clear? Excellent."  
"Be cautious. There's a room with a trap…"  
"I _know!_ " Kali snarled. "I _built_ this place!"  
"Of course, my lord. My apologies." Lal replied humbly.  
"Let's go before more of Yu's forces gains up on us!" the demon ordered.  
"Move it, Shol'vas!" Kru'ul barked and showed the prisoners forward. Mola Ram watched them go before he and Chattar Lal headed back into the main caves.

Moving through the secret tunnel and being out of eye-sight from the tauri minions, the pretense of being an all-powerful god was dropped. Kali staggered in her step and almost fell.  
"My lord?" Kru'ul gasped out all concerned.  
"Who shot me?"  
"W-we never saw who it was. But you were hit with fire from a staff weapon – it must've been one of Yu's Jaffa."  
Kali only managed to let out a groan in reply.  
"My lord, are you well?"  
"Of course I'm not, you fool! This body is dying! The damage is too severe, I can barely keep it together to get out of here. I need the sarcophagus!"  
"We're moving too slowly with us having to herd the two prisoners along…"  
"Their betrayal carries too high a price to allow them an easy death," Kali persisted. "They are to be brought along for as long it is required! Now move out. We'll be fine as long as no one follows us in here!"

* * *

Back down in the caverns, three of Yu's Jaffa became alerted to an approaching figure and they pointed their staff weapons against the new adversary.  
"Don't shoot!" Kamala Khan cried out, raising his hands in surrendering. "You're looking for Kali. I know where she is!"  
"Where?" the leader asked.  
"She's wounded, but she still managed to slip away. Right now she is making her way through a tunnel heading for the surface." Khan pointed to a direction. "If you head that way, you can intercept her!"  
The three Jaffa looked at each other in suspicion. "Why are you betraying your god?"  
"She isn't mine!" Khan spat. "She never was! I don't want her to come back here!" The Jaffa still hesitated. "Look, my true allegiances don't matter. But you three will be a hero to your own god if you capture the wench. So I suggest you hurry. _That_ way!"  
"If you lie, we will come back and _kill_ you!"  
"I assure you, it won't be necessary. Not as long as you _kill_ that demon of a so-called god!"

* * *

It wasn't an easy hike, and Kali was growing weaker by each step. She let out primordial grunts of strain, her breathing becoming erratic and shallower. It was only her lust for revenge and the prospect of the sarcophagus being on the way that kept her going.  
"There's a room up ahead," Kru'ul pointed out.  
"Good," Kali said. "It means we are close to our goal. We need to go through there first. Be mindful of your steps! That room is a trap!"  
"My lord!" the Jaffa in the rear suddenly called out. "Someone is coming behind us!" The noise of armor clattering to the rocky surface told them that another group of Jaffa was catching up to them. Shortly afterwards, the pursuers came into view.  
"Halt - in the name of Lord Yu the Great!" Staff weapons suddenly came to life on both sides and the tunnel was lit up by straying shots as those exploded against the walls. But some of them hit their mark. The Jaffa in the rear of the escaping group caught a shot to his chest and he dropped, leaving the rest of Kali's small group even more exposed. Yu's Jaffa advanced further on, fully intending to overrun the rest. Running on her reserves now, Kali escaped into the room that was before them. It was a circular chamber with another doorway on the other side.  
"Move on, but don't step anywhere where I haven't stepped!" Kali ordered her troopers. She strode through the room to the other pathway, but there she stopped, standing position above a hidden device on the floor. There was a trigger there, one that Kali did not want disturbed.

"Go!" the demon commanded more firmly, ushering the surviving Jaffa past her and through the doorway. She didn't care at all for the welfare of her Jaffa, she wouldn't have hesitated for a moment to sacrifice all of them… but she needed the room clear to bait their pursuers to follow them in. The two surviving Jaffa minions shoved through the prisoners Tra'ol and Be'lem while the first prime Kru'ul lay down cover fire, and then he escaped out of the chamber as well. Yu's small company was fast on their tails. They rushed into the chamber just as Kali escaped through the doorway, and they took position against the walls in case they would be fired upon.  
"Surrender, Kali!" the leader called out. "There's nowhere to escape!"  
"Fools!" Kali snarled as she was leaning back inside. "It is _you_ that have nowhere to run! I got you right where I want you!" And then the demon threw out one of her left arms, releasing a shock pulse from her armband which connected to a rectangular stone slab that was protruding out from the wall. The slab was completely knocked into the wall all the way, triggering another hidden device. Kali moved away as a circular barrier rolled out, blocking the way. Yu's Jaffa looked behind them and saw how another heavy slab of granite fell down on the other doorway, sealing off that exit as well, trapping them inside. And to add to the trapped Jaffa's horror, the ceiling suddenly began to come down on them.

Kali's demonic face peered through a rectangular hole in the wall into the room. "You'll see now that you are in quite a _pressing_ situation!" The goddess laughed maniacally. "And that's not all: it's about to become quite _sticky_ as well!"  
One of the unfortunate Jaffa suddenly screamed as he felt something sharp pressing hard onto his abdomen from beneath him. A long spike had shot up from the floor and was stabbing him. It wasn't the only one. Several more spikes now rose from the floor, and more even came down from the descending ceiling. The room was a spiky death trap! In panic, the two remaining Jaffa whom had not yet been stabbed began to fire with their staff weapons on the barriers that sealed the doorways, but to no avail. The materials were made to resist such offensive force. Kali watched with satisfaction the Jaffa troopers' bloody demise through the peephole, smiling as she listened to their death cries.

As the show was over, the group resumed their getaway. The path before them was not all that comfy – the floor was covered with giant insects: a living carpet of beetles, roaches, and centipedes.  
Kru'ul let out a groan of disgust. "Disgusting locusts! They must've made a nest here!"  
The path moved upwards, so they soon left the 'sea' of bugs. Past the next corners, they found that the tunnel was littered with debris. "Look like materials from a building," Kru'ul stated. "Must be rubble from the palace above us that fell down here after the British or whatever the humans called them raided the place and blew out the tunnels a hundred years ago. There's a whole doorframe here – still has its doors hanging askew from them."  
Kali looked at the doorframe which was standing supported against a corner – and she had an inspiration. She took a closer inspection… behind the doors there wasn't much room – but that wasn't required either. What was more convenient even were that there were some metal rods sticking out from the walls within just above her head. It was too good of an opportunity to waste. She looked over at the prisoners Tra'ol and Be'lem. "Strip them of their armor!"

There was massive resistance, but the protests were quickly quenched by some jolts from Kru'ul's pain rod. After the two prisoners have had all their protective plates removed, Kali ordered to have them tied to the protruding metal rods within the makeshift 'wardrobe'. And there they finally hang, semi-naked and helpless within the small area. Kali watched them with a sadistic glare.  
"This is the penalty for your betrayal, Shol'va! I will leave you here, buried alive where no one is likely to find you! You will die slowly and unpleasantly – as is your just punishment!"  
"It changes nothing, Kali," Tra'ol wheezed. "Your tyranny is at an end! The other system lords will still vanquish you!"  
"Insolent worms! You underestimate my power!"  
"You _have_ no power!" Be'lem said. "You're nothing but a _false_ god! The human Levar Zane saw it right through you! You will fall like the fraud you are! If not now, then soon. _Very_ soon!"  
"Kel shek, Shol'va!" Kru'ul was stepping forward, his face creased into a mask of fury for the insult to their god. But before he could do anything, Kali stopped him.  
"You're trying to goad me into killing you instantly! You will not be so lucky! I have decreed a slow painful death, and that is what you're going to get!"

It was Kali who now stepped forward, and directed her gaze down at the bare bodies. Unlike ordinary humans, the Jaffa did not have belly buttons. On their stomachs there was a perfectly shaped 'X' cut across the belly. This was the symbiote pouch, where the Goa'uld larvae resided within. Kali brought two of her hands forward and slammed them into the pouches, digging her hands within their bodies. To the two prisoners, it reminded them of seeing Mola Ram shoving his hand into the chest of a victim – it gave them a nauseating sensation. When Kali pulled her hands back out, they were not empty. In her hands she held the Goa'uld prim'tas, forcibly removed. The creatures wriggled and screeched in protests. Every Goa'uld larvae had passed down memories from generations of their kind before, freely shared by the queen who had spawned them, so despite being mere infants, they were fully aware on how their 'society' worked. They screeched in anger because they knew that they were about to die, long before they had a chance to mature and take hosts of their own.  
With her multiple hands, Kali grabbed hold on the two larvae with a firm grip, and then she ripped them apart, killing them instantly. She threw the remains down the tunnel where the bugs resided for them to devour the cadavers, leaving no trace of them.  
"Thought I would snap them in half within your pouches, did you? Did you think that I would allow the symbiote poison to kill you? No, your deaths will be more prolonged than that!"

The two doomed Jaffa were shivering now, already feeling the loss of their immune system affect them. Kali smiled at their discomfort.  
"No doubt you will go through Ma'l Sharran now as you die," Kali went on. Among the Goa'uld it was known as the last rite in which a warrior on the threshold of death has every moment of his life passing by before his eyes. "Use that time to contemplate on what you did with your lives, and where you did me wrong!"  
"Do you expect us to pledge to you for your forgiveness?" Be'lem asked.  
"That time has passed. It is not forthcoming." With a nod, Kali ordered the last of her minions to seal the doors and locking them inside their tomb.  
"We may die, Kali," Tra'ol sputtered his final words. "But we die _free!"_ If anything more was said, it was drowned out by the closed doors. Kali and the last three Jaffa resumed their trek through the tunnel, and finally came to stop before a dead end. But they could see light streaming in through the edges of the slab that blocked their path, telling them that it was just an obstacle concealing the exit. The Jaffa pulled and got the obstacle out of the way, clearing the path. The obstacle in question was a statue of white marble, but that was something that didn't concern them. They just got out and put it back into place, making sure that no one was to follow. They found themselves in the ruined palace and close to the rendezvous point for the incoming Al-kesh – the question was if Kali had that long. She suddenly groaned and fell on her knees, clasping her sides.

"My lord!" Kru'ul exclaimed.  
"I can't keep it up much longer," Kali said in a strained voice. "My sarcophagus! I need my sarcophagus!"  
"I believe we're almost at the court yard," the first prime said. "Hold on, my lord." Kali had to surrender her dignity and allowed the Jaffa to carry her the last of the way. After a few minutes they reached their goal – in good time too. Just then the massive Goa'uld transport vessel swooped in and was put into hover above the center of the yard. The transport rings were released from the belly of the ship and those encircled the group and brought them aboard. As soon as it was complete, the Al-kesh rose up into the air again and headed for space.  
Within the craft, Kali found that only a handful of her warriors had survived the destruction of the Ha'tak vessel. Among them was also her female Lo'taur servant.  
"Where's my sarcophagus?" Kali demanded. She was growing incredibly weak.  
The Lo'taur was on the verge of crying. "We… we couldn't get it. A conduit exploded underneath it and damaged it beyond salvation. It's… it's gone!"  
Kali grimaced in rage. But instead of going into a tantrum, the demon staggered over towards the human female servant.  
"Then there's only one way to save my life!" Kali grabbed on to her servant's face with her massive hands, and the woman let out a blood-curling scream.

* * *

Back in the underground catacombs, Yu's first prime came forward and went down on his knees.  
"My lord. Kali's forces have all been rounded up and executed, but… the demon herself have escaped. Reports from our ship says that an Al-kesh survived and came down to retrieve her. It's heading back out into space as we speak. We've had some casualties of our own, some inflicted by the humans who aided Kali. One of our groups was even tricked into a death trap by one."  
Yu the Great looked really angry that his quarry had managed to slip out though his fingers, but he still executed a controlled demeanor despite that. "Recall all of our surviving troopers," he commanded. "We're going back to our ship."  
In an orderly manner, Yu's legions marched back to the sacrificial altar where the rings were located, and group by group was transported away in the same way they had arrived. Nobody saw it, but Mola Ram was huddling behind one of the pillars, watching his enemies depart.

Yu threw a glance up at the giant statue of kali once more, and his face creased into a mask of disgust. "So revolting," he snorted.  
"What shall we do about the humans who served Kali?" the first prime asked.  
"They should have heeded my warning to not interfere," Yu replied. He and his closest guard were the last ones to get into position underneath the rings. "They will pay the price for doing so. You know in what way!"  
"Understood, my lord," the first prime said as the rings encircled them and beamed them away.  
Mola Ram came out from his hiding place and walked out to the center of the altar. He felt a sensation of relief. The enemies had gone, and they hadn't done too much of damage. He grieved that Kali had gone as well, but he took comfort in knowing that she had evaded capture. Now as this crisis was over, maybe he could resume his sacred task. He thought that a new sacrifice had to be made to give Kali some new strength, and to compensate for the defeat they had suffered here. But how was he going to perform a sacrifice without the other priests to handle the details around it?

As he contemplated on this, he was putting the Sankara stones back into the eye-sockets of the giant stone skull – that's when he heard the familiar sound of the rings coming down again behind him. Was the enemy returning? As he turned around, the rings were completing its cycle and disappeared back up into the roof of the cave. None living had come through this time, but there was something new there in the middle of the half-island of the altar.  
It was a sphere of some kind – a metallic device. Lights were pulsing around it which increased in rhythm for every second passed, and it was beeping strangely.  
Mola Ram didn't know what the device was or what its full purpose were, but he suspected that it definitely was not anything good. Since it was most probable that it was Yu the Great that had delivered this, it was meant to do Kali Ma a serious harm. Mola Ram would not allow it!

Having no idea how much he was putting his life at stake, he crouched down before the bomb and began to push it towards the edge of the crevasse. His determination to serve Kali was giving him the strength he required to move the sphere into a roll, and with a great heave, he pushed it over the edge, sending it down into the pit of fire. The sphere had barely broken through the surface of the magma pool before it exploded. A cascade of lava was thrown up from the reservoir so high up that it sprayed up from the fissure and connected to the roof of the cave. Mola Ram managed by pure luck to scramble away from the rain of magma as it poured down on the altar after it had bounced off the roof and doing some damage, but not to the extent that it was beyond repair. What was, unbeknownst to the priest, damaged beyond salvation though was the ring compartment concealed within the roof. The magma had fused the doors and short-circuited the electronics to the operating systems of the transporter. It would never be used again.

Mola Ram got back on his feet, viewing the damage. "You failed, Mr. Yu the Great!" he muttered. "But I pray that mighty Kali Ma will make you pay for this foul. This will not stop us! The Thuggee will go on, for the glory of Kali!"  
"You're wrong, my friend. This ends now!"  
Mola Ram spun around. Kamala Khan was standing before the skull with the Sankara stones. "What are you doing here?" he asked in rage. Kamala Khan was still considered a traitor.  
"Just what I said: I'm going to finish this." He was taking the Sankara stones from the skull sockets. "I saw how you pushed that orb into the pit – these things are going the same way!"  
Mola Ram couldn't believe what he just heard. Khan wanted to throw the stones into the lava?! He intercepted the crazy lout before he reached the edge.  
"Are you mad? The stones belong to Kali! She is to return for them!"  
"She won't come if there's nothing to return to!" Khan persisted.  
"You _serve_ Kali Ma!"  
"NO! I don't! I never did! I only used her name to gather followers! I never would've thought that she actually existed! My true god is Seth! _**Our**_ true god! It was for him I did all this, not for Kali!"

Mola Ram was visibly shaken by this revelation. He had been tricked into working with a usurper! Kamala Khan in turn was so worked up by his rage of Kali's intrusion that he stupidly enough spilled everything in his confession.  
"Why do you think I used the two Jaffa to call that guy Yu here? To get _rid_ of her! But it wasn't enough, I had to attempt to shoot her in the back to kill her, but she still managed to get away! But at least she's gone now, and she had better _stay_ away! She was to ruin _everything_ we've worked to build! She even ruined you with these stones! By destroying them you will perhaps in time return to normal, and then we'll rebuild again for our true lord: Seth."  
Again he was moving towards the edge to throw the stones in – again Mola Ram stopped him. "And you think that I will let you do it? You never understood, Khan: my god is Kali Ma – always have been and always _will_ be! And you will not destroy those stones! I need them!"  
"No, you don't, my friend. They've changed you into something you are not. These things have _cursed_ you! But I'm going to free you!"  
"What makes you think I want to be free? Did you never stop to think that maybe I _want_ to be like this? To have these gifts?"  
"I know you, Ram. It's not you thinking, it's the stones! You never wanted this."  
"Then you never knew me at all!"

Kamala Khan suddenly felt a fierce fire burn in his chest. So intensive was the agony that he dropped the stones and screamed horribly, not comprehending what could be happening. He had a horrifying suspicion, but he couldn't believe it to be the case. He didn't _want_ to believe it to be the case!  
Mola Ram then pulled back his hand and revealed to Khan that which confirmed his suspicion and worst fear: Ram had taken his heart!  
As the priest stood staring at the organ in his hand, the madness swept over him again. His eyes bulged and gleamed, and his mouth broke into a satanic smile. And from the depths of his throat, a maniacal laughter was heard.  
"Yyyouu… you c-couldn't haaave… yyyouuu d-d-d-did not just…" Khan stammered, having totally lost his wits for apparent reasons.  
Mola Ram did not answer. Words were superfluous. All he did was to continue to grin while he felt the hunger for the next phase overwhelm him. Ram grabbed on to the other's tunic and pulled. Khan who was too stunned to resist was dragged along and then he was hurled over the precipice and into the pit. His scream resonated through the cave as he fell - there was a hissing flash as Kamala Khan ceased to be. The heart in Mola Ram's hand didn't go up in flames this time. Instead it suddenly burst like a balloon, in fire and smoke.

Mola Ram regretted what he had done. Not the death he had caused, but because it had gone too quick. It had only given him a momentary pleasure, but not so fully satisfactory as it had been with Levar Zane's prolonged death. Kamala Khan would have deserved to suffer longer than he had. The disappointment of a missed opportunity made him sulky, and that made the madness that still overwhelmed him fixate itself to his core. It would never go away now, nor did he want it to.  
"He had it coming to him," a voice said. Chattar Lal stood behind him, holding the Sankara stones in his hands. "His very presence was an insult to our cause."  
Mola Ram was looking at the stones sullenly. It would be a while now before he had the power within him replenished by them so that he could rip another heart out.  
Lal put the stones back in the sockets of the stone skull. "He was correct in one point though: we will need to rebuild again. But this time we should do it methodically and totally under the nose of our enemies so that no one will ever expect us to still be active as a cult. If I may, I have some ideas…"

"And why should your ideas be worthier of listening to than those of the one I just killed?"  
"Because, my friend…" Lal said with a mysterious smile. "…I may have a lead on the _third_ stone!"  
"What are you talking about?" Ram demanded.  
"I make it a habit of knowing things… and there's a rumor of a stone in a village a few days from here, one that supposedly gives them good crops and prosperity. They call it the Sivalinga."  
A new sense of hope was rising within the priest. "And you think it is one of the Sankara stones? Then we must _get_ it!"  
"Yes. But not yet! First we must ensure that our presence is concealed, and that our people here appear legitimate so that the British won't suspect something and return…"  
"What do you have in mind?"  
"The palace above us… we should refurbish it and put it into use. We're going to need funds for that. We should acquire some 'workers' for our mine to dig for some gems, as well as for the two last Sankara stones… and then we're going to need a Maharajah…"

* * *

In space, just outside the border of Ra's domain, Baal's fleet was still waiting – but that had finally come to an end.  
"My lord, we're detecting an Al-kesh coming into our sector."  
Baal broke out into a smile. His gamble had paid off. That was why he was known as the cunning system lord. "Ah, my dear Yu… you never disappoint. Prepare to intercept!"

* * *

Aboard the approaching cargo ship, a dramatic change had taken place. The modified Unas body with six arms lay motionless on the deck, while the female human Lo'taur was rising to her feet. Kru'ul and his warriors stood watching, not daring to make a move. The woman servant locked eyes with theirs – and then they flashed.  
"Curses!" the woman spoke with a distorted voice. She looked down on the dead Unas. "I shall really miss that body!" When it became apparent that the Unas body could not be saved due to the lack of a sarcophagus, the snake entity of the Goa'uld's true form had abandoned the dying host and taken the servant as a new vessel. Kali the Destroyer was now, like the most of her brethren, a human.  
"Coming here was perhaps a mistake, my lord," Kru'ul said carefully. "It cost us more than we had anticipated."  
"Do be silent!" Kali snarled. "I may have a new body, but I am _still_ your god! I still have the power to kill you should I choose to!"  
"Forgive my impudence, my lord."

"My lord Kali!" the pilot suddenly shouted in alarm. Baal's forces were expecting us! We're being surrounded!"  
"Go into hyperspace!" Kali ordered.  
"It's too late. We're boxed in. Again!"  
The main viewer came online, showing Baal's smiling face. "Here we are again, Kali, right back where we started!" His smile dropped when he saw the people looking back at him. "Where is Kali?"  
With a sour look, the former Lo'taur stepped forward. Baal's smile returned. "Lost your body, I see."  
"There's no denying that I am at a serious disadvantage," Kali growled. "So state your demands!"  
"The loss of your Unas body is a great improvement," Baal stated. "You've become much humbler. I'd like for you to come aboard so that we can talk. We need to discuss your place, and of your foolish plans to join forces with Sokar. You do understand that we can't have that, can we?"

Kali didn't say it aloud, but she found to her surprise that she agreed. Becoming the ruler of Netu didn't seem so important anymore. It was with the blending of her primordial Unas body that had risen her bloodthirst to unreasonable levels – a thirst she had sought to satisfy by inflicting torture on different souls. But the primordial feelings of her blending with the Unas had gone after demon host had died – now she was blended with a human and she was finally able to think a little bit more logically, without her constant anger issues. Yes, the time had come to talk instead of just acting by primordial hunger. That was in the past – now it was time to look ahead.  
As for the horror she had set in motion with the bloodthirsty cult back on Earth in India, she gave it no thought at all. In fact, she felt it best forgotten.

Author's notes: There's going to be one more chapter. Not one of importance, just a little P.O.V. from the final battle on the bridge at the end of the movie.


	10. Endgame

"Welcome."  
It was a greeting deliberately meant as a mockery, and it was a fitting presentation to the foreigners who had dared to taint the name of Kali and the Thuggee. But the biggest atrocity was that they had dared to steal the sacred Sankara stones! There was no greater crime than that! Mola Ram really abhorred thieves coming to steal the treasures of their cause. It was like a hundred years ago when the British raided the temple. Mola Ram had sworn that it would not be allowed to happen again – but then this wretched American, this Indiana Jones had invaded their domain and done just that. He was going to pay with his life for it!

It had been easy to anticipate where the foreigners would emerge after they had escaped the caves in the captured mine car, and he was glad that the flood had not washed them away. Ram would take great pleasure in killing them himself. He saw into the eyes of the woman Willie Scott, rejoiced of her fear. When this was settled, she would be put back into the sacrificial cage, and this time he _would_ rip her heart out! Just by thinking about it, his fingers were even now twitching to do it. He regretted that he had not done it the first time, although he'd almost had. It had nothing to do at all with her being a woman, it made no difference to the high priest. But it had seemed like a necessary thing to do at the time, to see how much the blood of Kali Ma had managed to convert Indiana Jones. He had never doubted the power of the Nish'ta in the blood, but the conversion had never been done on a foreigner before, and he had needed to see just how powerful the Christians were. Were the Christian god powerful enough to withstand the power of Kali? He had needed to know, that's why he hadn't ripped out the woman's heart back then. He was to test Dr. Jones to see if he would try and save her if he thought that there was still hope to do so.

He had been pleased to see that Jones was prepared to sacrifice her in the name of Kali, as it had proven that Kali was indeed all-powerful. If only it hadn't been for the Chinese brat Short Round! He had escaped the mines, invaded the temple in the middle of the ceremony and disturbed it. Even worse, he had managed to burn Jones with a torch. Did he know that it would counteract the effects of the Nish'ta? Maybe it had just been a chance, but it had done the damage. He remembered the god Kali's words spoken to him: the Nish'ta had a great weakness: once someone was free from it, he would forever be immune to its effects. There was no point in trying to convert Jones again, nor did Mola Ram want to try to. He was to die, and the woman and the boy would meet the same fate.  
From the middle of the bridge, Indiana jones called out to him: "Let them go, Mola Ram!"  
"You are in a position, unsuitable to give orders!" Ram called back. And then he ordered his henchmen to move in on him from both sides.  
"Look out behind you!" the woman cried out.

To Mola Ram's chagrin, Jones answered with a different tactic. He held the bag containing the stones over the rope, threatening to throw them into the abyss below. "You want the stones? Let them go!"  
How dared this wretched American making demands to him? He looked longingly at the bag, careful not to let it show how much he really wanted them. The stones were precious, as they were the source of his power. Before when he had only two, he could only do one sacrifice per month, as it took time for the stones to replenish the energy which gave him the ability to enter the chests and rip out the hearts of his victims. When they had claimed the rock from Mayapore village, the power of the stones had increased exponentially. (In his mind it had not been a theft. Since the stones had at one time belonged to the Thuggee, it was considered as taking back what once was theirs. Taking the children at the same time was considered a compensation for the village having been in possession of stolen goods.) Mola Ram could now do one sacrifice per night thanks to the third rock, and he was not ready to give that up. And not just for himself: he was convinced that with each sacrifice he made, the life force of the victim would go to Kali, increasing her power where ever she was. It was his duty to give her power! The stones had to be retrieved!

"Let them go!" Jones repeated. Mola Ram smiled. He had one advantage: the American didn't know how important the stones really were to him. For one more time in his life, he had an inspiration despite the fact that he wasn't really a strategist – a gamble which could well turn the tide.  
"Drop them, Dr. Jones! They will be found – you won't!" Ram laughed. It wasn't really a lie: the stones could be found again even if they were dropped. It was the setback of allowing Jones to do so that Ram did not want to face. "Yanne!" he shouted to his guards, ordering them to move ahead on the swaying bridge.  
The gamble had paid off. Jones hang the bag back over his shoulder. Perfect! Ram felt pride of himself. Now the American was to be captured, and then he would die.  
Or perhaps not. Anger flowed over the priest again as his guards on the bridge once more hesitated, and it was because Jones threatened to cut the ropes with a sword he had captured! The guards were reluctant to advance forward. The _cowards!_ Surely they didn't believe that Jones would actually be mad enough to do it? That he would kill himself? Ram didn't believe so, but it was obvious that the fools of his Thuggee guards didn't dare to take the chance. He had to take matters into his own hands one more time.

Mola Ram drew his ceremonial dagger. It was amazing that he still carried it on his person. He hadn't used it in years, not since the last time he slit a victim's throat the night Kali Ma had come to them. He waved the blade in front the woman and the boy. It was time to end this farce. "Go on!" he commanded. "Go!" And then he forced them out onto the bridge. This should give the fools some comfort. The American wouldn't cut the ropes of the bridge with his friends on it. " _Go on!"_ he shouted loudly so that his voice echoed over the valley. This was a coerce to both his prisoners and to his guards.  
Things was not going the way Mola Ram had expected it to, even though he had brought out the woman and the boy on the bridge. There was still hesitation, and Jones still stood with the sword above his head. Jones spoke to the boy in a foreign language, one that Ram couldn't translate. More words were then passed between the boy and the female, and the woman seemed to brake down in panic. "Is he nuts?" She whined.  
"He no nuts. He's crazy!" the boy said. What was going on here?  
"Mola Ram," Jones shouted. "Prepare to meet Kali – in _hell!_ " And then he slashed through the rope.

"What are you doing?!" Ram cried out in disbelief. The American really _was_ mad! The guards that had advanced on the madman was already running in the opposite direction, desperate to get to safety. But there was nowhere to go, but down. Indy had already cut the opposite rope as well, breaking the bridge in two, and the two halves fell apart. Most of the Thuggee guards fell to their deaths, wailing all the way down. On the bottom of the gorge was a river, filled with crocodiles. As soon as the first bodies broke through the surface of the water, the reptiles moved in and began to tear the cadavers apart.  
Above, the bridge crashed into the side of the cliff, the hard, violent stop dislodging more guards that had attempted to hang on. As Mola Ram had been the last on the bridge, he was at the top of the dangling wreck, having managed to stay on. Looking down below him, he was not surprised to see the woman and the boy still being with them - they had after all been warned beforehand. Two of his guards had survived as well, but he could see that he could expect no help from them. They were too terrified to do anything. And on the bottom of the wrecked bridge, was Indiana Jones! The wretched American just refused to die!

Mola Ram had the high ground. All he needed to do was to climb up to the edge, and from the top he would wait for the other survivors to appear, and then he would kill them - his worthless guards included. That was his plan, but the laws of physics were against him. He grabbed on to a rung that was rotten, and it splintered in two. Losing his grip, he fell down, past the woman and the boy and below, until he managed to come to a halt on the level where his two guards were hanging on for their lives. One of the guards was knocked loose as the priest dropped in on them, and he plunged down past the archeologist who managed to duck. Mola Ram barely had time to resume his climbing before the foreigner reached him, grabbing on to his foot and attempted to shake him loose. Ram lost his grip again and fell, but this time not so far down. He came level to level with the pestering American. Their hatred for each other made them do battle there, instead of trying to climb to safety. Fists knocked into the other's jaw repeatedly. Frustrated, Ram elbowed the other and knocked him sideways – and that's where he saw his opening. He reached out with his free hand to do what he had longed to do from when he was about to sacrifice the woman.  
"Indy! Cover your heart!" the boy screamed from above.  
Too late. Giving in to his maddening hunger, Mola Ram's fingers began to pierce the other's chest and was about to dig further in and making a grab for the beating prize, before Jones grabbed on to his wrist.

It was down to a battle of the strongest mind. It was Indy's sense of self-preservation that fought against Mola Ram's un-yielding cravings to always rip out living organs from human bodies.  
"Maaro maaro sooar ko, chamdi nocho pee lo khoon!" the priest raved in his euphoric state while laughing. [Kill, Kill the pig, flay his skin, drink his blood!] He took great pleasure in witnessing the American's panicked and pained expression and Ram pushed on harder. He couldn't wait to hold the thief's life in his hand, presenting it to him and watch him despair as he would realize that his life was over. Unfortunately for Mola Ram, Jones' self-preservation got the upper hand. When one's life was in peril, a human would gain a hidden strength to fight the crisis, and that gained Indy the power to force Ram's hand away from his chest and push it clear. To insult the priest even further, Jones used Ram's own hand to punch him in the face. Enraged, the priest resumed his ascent.  
Jones should have been almost unconscious after what Mola Ram had attempted to do, but to his further displeasure, the American kept making trouble. Ram could feel how the bridge was rattled, the vibrations caused by the accursed archeologist.

Ram was still feeling the disappointment of having failed to extract his enemy's heart and he needed to compensate for that missed opportunity – and the remaining weakling guard he was approaching now would suit his needs perfectly!  
The last surviving guard was in a world of his own, his eyes and hands tightly closed, so frightened by his predicament that he was unable to do anything. Such weakness amongst his own men repulsed Mola Ram, and he had therefore no scruples for what he was about to do. Reaching the guard's level, Ram wrapped his arm around the minion's neck and pulled him loose. Ignoring the guard's wailing protests, Ram cast down the weakling against his enemy below. Jones had to make himself go flat against the cliff to avoid the falling body. With no way to stop, the screaming guard fell down into the river on the bottom of the canyon and was consumed by the crocodiles. Mola Ram laughed!  
His moment of pleasure was short-lived however, as he felt how Jones began to shake and rattle the collapsed dangling bridge again. Ram have had just about enough of him!

With the lack of a way to cross over, the rest of Mola Ram's guards were stranded on the other side of the gorge – but that didn't mean that they couldn't do anything to rectify the situation. Mola Ram shouted in Hindi across the canyon, giving his men orders to use their bows and shoot the American.  
While the Thuggee archers did their task, the priest continued his climb towards the top – but it turned out that he had totally forgotten about the woman and the boy above him. They were waiting for him! As soon as he reached the slat the two were balancing on, Willie and Shorty began to stomp on his fingers! In pain, Mola Ram lost his grip once more and he fell. He fell on top of Indiana Jones whom had to Ram's continuous disappointment managed to evade the arrows the guards had shot at him.  
As it was, when Ram knocked into the other, Jones lost his grip as well and they both tumbled down about ten feet before the managed to gab hold of the bottom rungs. They were back into fist combat. They struck at each other, each attempting to knock the other off.

Mola Ram needed to end this as he was tiring quickly. Priestly duties did not prepare him for such acrobatics, and he desperately wanted to get to safety. He was not going without that which belonged to him though. He made a grab for the bag that was hanging over Jones' shoulder, containing his precious Sankara stones - but Jones was not willing to let it go. They both pulled at the strap of the bag, no longer giving any thought to where they were.  
"The stones are _mine!_ " Ram raged.  
"You betrayed Shiva!" Jones replied fiercely. Ram was about to tell him off that Shiva was dead, killed by Kali. He didn't have the time to say so though, as he got perplexed over what the American was mumbling about next.  
"Shive ke vishwas kate ho! Shive ke vishwas kate ho! You betrayed Shiva!"  
Mola Ram was astonished, and he grew greatly concerned. He _knew_ those words! It was the same ones Kali had used when she had given him the gift, the power that gave him the ability to rip out hearts. How did the American know them?!  
" _Shive ke vishwas kate ho! You betrayed Shiva!_ " Jones continued to chant. Did he even know what he was doing? Mola Ram recalled the words Kali had told him eight years ago: _'It's not the meaning of the words that is of importance - it's the sounds! The vibrational tones from the larynx acts like an auditory combination lock, a code word telling the stones to unchain the energy they hold within, discharging the power! The energy just need somewhere to go, or the stones will start to burn…'_

That was exactly what the stones was starting to do now! The bag suddenly burst out into flames as the superheated rocks burned through it, and two of them fell out, falling down into the river below. NO! His precious stones! He couldn't lose them!  
The last stone tumbled out of the bag. Desperately, Ram reached out to catch it, failing to think of the consequences. He wasn't concerned of the fire – the power of the stones had made him impervious to it. But by touching it, he made himself being the receiver of the energy the stone was set to release. Just like the first time Ram had been exposed to it, the power rushed from the stone and into his system – all at once. It was too much! The power burned throughout his whole body as his cells became overloaded. He lost all motor responses, going almost stiff – and thereby he lost his grip as well. His body instinctively twitched as he felt himself beginning to fall, and that made him accidently throw away the discharged stone in his hand. It was caught by Jones who could hold it without trouble now as it was cold.

Mola Ram fell with a scream, bouncing on the cliff-side and finally he splashed through the surface of the water. Amazingly, thanks to the power of the stones in his systems, he was still alive – but that victory was short-lived as he became aware of the crocodiles approaching him, opening their maws, and prepared to engulf him. As he was too numb in his body to move, with too many broken bones from the fall, there was no way for him to escape. As the reptile chomped down on his arm and ripped it out of his socket, Mola Ram cried out a plead to Kali Ma, begging her to come for his liberation.  
He would've have been disappointed, had Kali been able to hear him. (Which she couldn't as she was on the other side of the galaxy.) Since she had left Earth, Kali's priorities had changed due to the fact that she had been blended with another body. The biggest change was that she had lost her immediate lust for pain and suffering on other souls after her Unas host had expired. Like all Goa'ulds, she was still looking for power – but gaining it by joining forces with Sokar and becoming the ruler of Netu wasn't on her mind any more. The deal she had struck with Baal (and changing of hosts) had turned her away from that path. Kali was still a system lord commanding her own sectors – but she now answered to Baal. The balance of power had tipped over to _his_ favor.

Therefore, even if Kali would've heard Mola Ram's plead, she wouldn't have bothered. The Thuggee or even the Sankara stones didn't interest her anymore. Had she been able to learn of Ram's defeat, she would've have dismissed it with chosen words of finality:  
 _Their problems are none of my concern!_

* * *

Author's notes: keep a lookout for the sequel, called _Pankot Predator_. A crossover between the worlds of Indiana Jones, and Aliens/Predator.


End file.
